The history of an Italian medium: part 10
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Comminications by the Spirit who invaded the field
This entity, which constantly interfered with Mariòl's communications through a rhythmic background noise, clearly audible in the recordings, from time to time could tune in perfectly, and then his deep-timbre voice became distinctly audible. More often instead it was Mariòl who expressed in words the thoughts transmitted by the entity, starting the speech with the phrase: «The spirit who persistently invades my field gives me thought...». This spirit expresses itself solemnly, with a complex and sometimes involuted phrasing, but on the whole he repeats almost always the same basic concepts on the relativity of earthly life, on the importance of love and on the reality of that mysterious and seductive Infinite that in the human world is called God. As an example, I report some of his most significant communications.
(March 23, 1947) "I wish you a lot of light, immense light that always enlightens the path of the journey you have to travel. This is due to God's greatness, which gives us everything to make us smile forever. I do not know how you conceive this transition from raw matter to the spirit definitively free of it. Although you do not hear my words, I am as happy as you and the spirit who has woven this web that unites us in a single bundle are. Believe in the afterlife... I'm not dead, but I'm more alive than before. I know you do not hear the sound of my voice clearly, but I still have joy. I believed in this seductive and mysterious beyond. I am giving the certainty that the material garment has fallen, but the spirit, free of that, rejoices forever praying for evrybody. Love for the creatures who did not want to believe in the afterlife".
(May 19, 1947) “Light, great light to you and to humanity, to illuminate the darkness that threatens it. I had a body similar to your present one. I learned to take my first steps and to stammer everything, depending on the teachers who were teaching me; but the good woven by that school which is called spirit was in me like a divine light, because it had sprung from God. And if during my earthly vicissitude I did not act exactly as I had intended departing from the real, the fault is due to that body which, like an octopus with long suckers, tried to numb and cloud the truth from which I had departed with love. Protect yourself from those suckers, you who have the joy of being learned in what is believed to be lost; act with conscience and do not give too much importance to all that is destined to cease with the form. You deserve so much, perhaps much more than you can think with your spirit still prisoner of the body, and I, now free of the matter's weight, urge you to persevere in good and on this path that will never get you lost even when, in the twilight hour of your passing away, you will be confused at seeing that you are going on forever in the infinite. Fleeting reminiscences will divide the present from the past, and by comparing them, you will blow up in love thanking the Eternal".
"I love you with pure spirit as all those who have passed away from your vicissitude know how to love. Follow the path that continuously gives us love and joy. It is a mistake when one thinks that with death there is an end; and the more they will think this way, the more they will be confused at seeing themselves continuing. When you think of us, think as something of eternal and pure vibration that propagates through your spirit and is wandering without losing itself in the plagues of this our mysterious and seductive Infinite. Never fear, and you will always have joy and you will continuously hope, by consulting your spirit with conscience. I always communicate with you, and I also know that your auditory senses do not grasp the sound that comes from it, but do not think that in spite of this I suffer, far from it! Physically speaking, I will tell you that your station was tuned with a given wave, therefore all the others will remain not tunable. I love you and above all, never be afraid. After a storm the sun returns to shine again in your blue sky full of stars that invite you to believe you can reach them. Operate well and you will be happy; I always love you".
(May 28, 1947) "Light on your path, so that your foot may overcome the obstacle, and health, so much health to your body so that with tenacity and greater strength may operate to achieve the good. Remember not to give too much importance to what is destined to end with the form. To strive for the triumph of goodness is the same as believing firmly in this mysterious and seductive force that drags us into life. If you knew with what joy we would appear again, after our passing, with the form we have left, to testify to your society that there is light, great light, where it is not believed! With love I think of you and it is with this terrible weapon that I urge you to fight the evil. You will have joy, I am sure, as you are sure that the sun rises in the east. Above all, this particular recommendation of mine be a warning to you for the continuation of your earthly vicissitude. Never fear. As a body, falling from a given height, is destined to be received from the ground below, a spirit free of material weight is destined to fall into the bosom of this Infinite from which he will receive the stigmata of a new life. Be reassured, I tell you that you will find an illuminated path. I imagine you close to this occasional medium and I would like to be for a moment sitting with you with my body of the past, thinking of being really able to triumph over matter. I love you, I wish you light, I wish health to your body and a lot of happiness for your earthly vicissitude".
(June 24, 1947) "I wish you a lot of light to illuminate your rough path. I do not know if you have suffered, but when you will compare your current sufferings to the state that determines my current life I am sure you will rejoice for never having lived them. The material structure with all its set of scenarios gives you the illusion of living a positive life. Continuous mirages are put before your eyes, but they are nothing but mirages, remember that and often observe them, joyful for the effect. Always keep your spirit ready in order to fight them hardly. In my earthly cohesion, I often thought of the position of the infinite, and the solution I found was the believing in the mysterious and seductive afterlife. Of course I had a material bond that, engulfing myself in those trivial mirages, tried to daze my spirit. Now I recognize that it was very easy to get rid of it. How terrible is it in the twilight hour of this divine passing away to compare the believed life lived in the matter with the life free from those illusory tentacles! Love you too as this infinite that surrounds us loves, and you will have won as you planned at your leaving. Remember that it is precisely by constantly asking our conscience that we put into subtle act (sic), when it comes to doing good deeds. Someone will tell you: «you are bad» or maybe something else, and other unpleasant phrases; but if these are logical deviations from a given hope for good, go straight, without breaking down, as an unblemished man who does not blush at the most indiscreet questions. I love you and I wish you that good may always prevail over evil. Dodge the evil and go to meet the good. Operate well. I love you and praying for you I wish you health to your body and a lot of light to your spirit".
(September 16, 1947) "I wish you light to your spirit, health to your body and happy continuation on the path you have taken. Your perseverance on this path that leads, undoubtedly, to the apex of true light, excites me with joy, which is transformed in love through this mysterious and seductive infinite. I am a spirit free of material weight, who continuously thinks of you and prays. Do not be afraid for what you profess; only now, and this time without fear of ever being denied, I can tell you that there is no shorter way to reach where we want to call for love. Teach people to love everyone because the so-called enemies do not exist. Above all begin to build a good bed for those who are to come; strange how in this strangeness everything is built only for our eternal joy; strange to forget the ephemeral material garment that we consider as our eternal abode, still strange to feel different than before in front of this so great infinite. Yet it would be enough to know how to take the right direction to plant the banner of truth once and for all, and to love and above all to always love. I thank and wish a lot of light to your loved dead ones and your bodies. Hold on on your good path. Do not be afraid even when the thunder crashes the atmosphere, but think about this mysterious and seductive beyond, because there is no refuge that can shelter you. Again I thank you and pray for you with a prayer that does not taste of material bigotry".
(December 17, 1947) "I love you and I wish you light on your rough journey; virile strength to your body so that it may be skilled to face the evil inspirations of humanity. Always love yourselves: love and reflect. It is by reflecting that a wave of light, a projection of the divine, spreads in you. These words, which I do not know how are transmitted into your intellect, are the fruit, dear brothers, of a comparison of a non-existent earthly life to the infinite majesty of this one. Man, in everything that he can make manifest, reflects neither more nor less what this mysterious and seductive Infinite has already given birth in an ecstasy of love. However man, who is insatiable with earthly greed, is not able and will never be able to stop that effect which grants death because, dear brothers and sisters, death is the cause of life. If you will explain this, you will have a perfect society. I love you, I pray for you, and forgive my loquacity if sometimes it can seem annoying. It is to dive again into this divine that makes us think why, when we had a body, perhaps because of our greed and selfishness, we never thought about it. Keep calm on your way; be happy in having learned that all your time spent in the body is nothing but a mysterious and seductive dream, because mysterious and seductive is this God who makes the stars twinkle, who makes life palpitate everywhere in the universe. Forget hatred and revenge and be your mind is, once and for all, turned to where we will enter one day with joy. The trials of mankind are immense, but do not give them too much importance. They have been, they are and they will still be, perhaps terrible, but everything is a dream. Here is the key: to believe that everything is a dream. I thank you and I always love you...".
(January 5, 1948) "I wish you light to illuminate your rough path, and a lot of health to your body so that it may succeed in making good triumph and bringing down evil, an inexistent obstacle, which appears real when the spirit is joined with the body. You who have, not the good fortune, but the constant joy of communicating with us, through one of you whom you call medium, you must not take on alternatives that tend to lose you, concerning this inconsistent life on earth, because the dream you are living, rather than definitely unveil itself, would appear even more real. We must remember, and always remember, that we left from the light to throw ourselves, so to say, into the darkness while keeping that flame intact. Strange that when we have a wide torso, a head and the rest, we forget so soon! Strange, but we also forget to have given this to our mother's arm. It is so beautiful to always ask ourselves the reason of life. It is so beautiful, when we have a body, to be able to understand that life can not end in the vault. The spirit is enriched and becomes more prepared and well trained. But all this is well understood on the threshold of that terrible passing, terrible because everything appears then in its true light; while the other life, the one made of selfishness, of inextinguishable hatred and harassment towards the people and ourselves, is extinguished and makes us glimpse that it really was non-existent. It is then, dear brothers, that everything seems simple: just when the passing away seems to catch us forever. Then what bitterness for having believed that earthly life had been all! Think often about something mysterious and seductive. And while He, who vibrates with love, gives us so much joy through himself, you will never be afraid. Through the storms always high be your thought, always to God. Not the God of the synagogues, but the God who surrounds you, who loves you, who gives you joy. Do not be foolish, but be able to reflect. I lived with my body maybe in recent years or maybe a long time ago, but that never minds. Prepare a good bed for those who possibly will take a body again. This mysterious and seductive infinite loves you and does not damn you. When you are afraid, think about it and above all, think that this something mysterious and seductive, I repeat, is always with you. Alone in the forest, alone on the boundless sea, alone in the blue of the heavens, but always together with this infinite. I remember having learned since I was a child that nothing can fall without the infinite feeling it. Never fear. He who hesitates is lost. Go on with your work of good. I wish everyone light".
(January 20, 1948) "Light on your rough road and health to your consistent body. I wish it, not from my heart, but as a pure spirit free from all those material tentacles ready to deceive you and to mask, I would say, completely, the thought of the cradle from which you left, for the umpteenth time, determined to win them, keeping intact the the origin of true life, since death is not a factor of annihilation, as other people believe it is, but is simply a factor culminating in a cause, the just and true cause which is called life. It is absurd to think of this death as an end. I have passed away perhaps recently or maybe a long time ago: this does not matter. What is important is this: I remember exactly, and especially when I am in contact with you, that I existed in the same way you do, with that material garment; clear sign that I still exist since I can declare you so. So death does not exist, it is a love revolution that changes, giving joy, like the metamorphosis that changes the caterpillar into a chrysalis. I already knew, when I was like you, what this metamorphosis involved for me, but sometimes the impetus of matter seeks to transcend us and if we are not resolute with the spirit, it takes the so-called overwhelming to completely mask the memory of our cradle. I have joy when I can communicate and thank with love this mysterious and seductive Infinite that envelops us more and more in this firmament of perfect love. Now I understand that this God, as you call him, gives us the joy of improving by ourselves our ascent path in his mysterious and seductive infinite. Here is the great, the true joy. To desire cohesion, trying to keep intact the memory of where we left. Here is the true and great joy: to be ourselves the rulers of our ascent. Please excuse and forgive me if I often bother you; perhaps, I would say, I often abuse of this field asked with love by your magnificent guide. Please forgive. I pray for all of you".
(April 7, 1948) "So, giving thought, I wish you light to illuminate your rough path and health to your physic body, so that it may accomplish that mission planned from a starting point different from yours, but operating on an usual scheme, although the material bonds leave half hidden what exists, though not believed. I would like to be ipso facto next to you with your usual dress, and work in depth, holding high the light that illuminates the worlds, the suns, and makes the infinite beauties of this mysterious and seductive Infinite vibrate with inconceivable thrills of love. I repeat, I would like to be ipso facto with this light among you, being afraid that, otherwise, your fellow men, not persevering like you on a path leading to the light, would commit the greatest mistake that can be committed, that of letting matter prevail on the spirit. Here is the biggest mistake, which will give bitterness at your definitive awakening that comes at passing away, for having tried again and fallen into the same error. Once more we will try again. There will be those who succeed, but the most are those who, driven by the passions of others, will again be won by the material tentacles that overshadow the deception. It is nice to wake up from a bad dream, noting that this never existed, but it is much nicer to believe that you are living it being well awake. Do not let yourselves be gripped by such tentacles, you who have the joy of succeeding in our contacts. Persevere and you will help to prepare, I would say, a good bed for those who, again, asking with love, will come on this earth globe. You will receive neither money, not hate; you will receive joy, greater joy in having succeeded in doing so in a place that never existed, yet believed to be something by other greedy people. You can always deceive, because with the body you are full of errors that need to be improved, but when you are in our state, even if you want, you can not fool. The material weight fell away from me, and with it what seemed to be the eternal mask. Now love surrounds us, but remember that love surrounds you too. You are not strangers to us and neither are we to you".
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One of the many typed minutes: sitting of February 25, 1948. |
Communications by other entities
Only rarely did other entities communicate by direct voice. Mariòl was usually the one to relay with her voice those which she called their thoughts. Most of the interventions came from relatives, friends or acquaintances of the sitters. Some were repeated regularly during several séances, as in the case, for example, of Mario Viti: (January 4, 1952) "A spirit asks of Viti Priamo. I know he is among you. Mario, I have been Mario. I lived with you with love. I have not forgotten you for a single moment. I have continuously prayed. Everything was joy when you remembered me as I am. Your thought is dear to me. I touch you with love, as I touch your guide. He once more has a thought for Viti Priamo". His father, Priamo Viti, was present at the sitting.
Another entity appeared almost at each sitting from February 2, 1951, onwards: Angelo B. Here is what Ravaldini recalled in an unpublished 1997 writing: «Since a long time a dear friend of ours, Vittorio N., notary in Castelfiorentino, had been attending our sittings. One of his daughters, Marcella, was happily married with a lawyer, Angelo B. The notary's family members, however, perhaps because they were close to the Church, did not attend the séances. He had spoken several times with his son-in-law, trying to explain what was happening in my house through Urbino's mediumship. Angelo listened to his father-in-law, but all this seemed to him rather strange, and he feared that life in another dimension was only a chimera. In January 1951, the lawyer B. died as a result of a trivial surgery – I think an appendicitis – and then also his wife and mother-in-law, in the hope of his manifestation, began to participate in the sittings together with the notary». As an example, I quote from the minutes of February 21, 1951, the intervention of Angelo B. (always through Mariòl): "Another one touches your medium and gives me thought. He remembers a name like Vittorio. It is as if he still wanted to return with his body here with you to make himself at least visible to Vittorio and to you, to make you realize that it was all so strange. Feeling like dying and feeling, on the other hand, I do not know how, a new life, or better a new way of living; it seems like having something at the throat, you remain breathless, and then, a strangeness, instead of being breathless, you feel well-being. And that's why I'd still like to shake you, to show you that it was strange to be afraid of another life. But you know, you're scared when you think there is nothing else. He touches your medium, touches you, has vibrations of joy and touches some of you... He says also: I touched you with my thought and I have joy at this memory. But you must not be impressed if you do not see me. I still remember Vittorio. I can not say that my heart is full of joy because I am sure it is no longer with me, but I remember all the time, and the memory I have of you is purer than before. I remember Marcellina. My joy is to pray for her with love, to touch her like you. I still ask you to forgive me..."
(His father-in-law, mother-in-law and wife, who are present, ask him: for what?). "I do not know, I know that there was nothing, but this is a big greeting: a greeting that is given by one who has no body, but who lives and sees, as you said. You are many to converse with us. He has joy, vibrates with joy, touches the spirit that is continually paired with him. I touched, you know, faster than you, I touched everyone. It is a greeting for her that loved me; it is a greeting so beautiful; I tried to blow in her hair. But I'll be with you when you will be here. He has a thought like that he always remembers you and caresses and greetings. You'll be fine, I wish you: do not be afraid, do not be impressed; I remember you with love and I pray with love for you and for Marcellina. Everything was fine with you; everything is love now. Do not worry; I'll be back again. You know, there's one who continually touches me; he teaches me that everything is beautiful; but we do not forget of you, because I still pray. Love Vittorio; love to all of you! He is insistent but his insistence is of love".
However, for the most part the many communicating entities could be classified as drop in: they were completely unknown to the sitters, even if they could give a name, and sometimes even a contact address. Here are some examples. (October 26, 1946) A spirit communicates through the guide: "Love to all and wishes of great light that enlightens more and more the darkness that surrounds you". He then asks if we are Italian and more precisely Florentine. To our affirmative answer he continues: "Someone may have known me; my name was Odoardo, I do not remember my surname. I traveled a lot: in India, Australia, Asia, Africa and Sumatra, together with my friend Giacomo. Traveling and knowledge gave joy to my spirit that I felt immortal. Thank you as if I had a heart and blessing to everyone. God alone is righteous. My body remained in Florence".
(December 22, 1946) "Another spirit gives me thought: Love and thrill. Do not give too much importance to your material shell. All illnesses are illusory, not to worry about. I died in a clinic in W. after surgery; I felt a great pain, and when I awoke, I cried for having believed for a long time in a life that was not real. I will take again a body, leaving with the good to try to win matter; my purpose is this: to bring good where there is evil. We wish this spirit, which is going to take a body on your Earth, that she may succeed in her undertaking. You leave pure from a school without equal, surrounded by love, to dive into an abstract which gives feelings of bitterness. Here is the apparent deception of evil; you need to know how to dodge it quickly; be strong enough to always dodge it; make so that the voice of conscience could give its command before taking any action. This is a secret that we always have at hand".
(January 2, 1947) “I do not remember exactly how the end occurred: I went back home with Eugenio, it seems to me, my wife and my children. I passed away because of the mad gesture of a hand: someone, perhaps concealed in the entrance hall, shot me with a revolver; I my head went dizzy and I fell. But, strangeness of the passing, I fell and I felt more standing than before. The passing is strange, excuse my word, so strange that even though I passed to a new life, I kept exactly all my body's movements. I strove to console my family that I was not dead at all, but they could not hear my words of pure thought. And since that evening, here I am in this new life, praying to God for the joy he granted to me. Thank you. Light".
(May 28, 1947) "Another spirit asked me in thought if you are impressed and I assured him you are not: I was from your country – he says – or at least I think I was. I passed away in Yugoslavia. I do not want to impress you by telling you my name. I was taken prisoner during the war and was deported to Silesia. I passed away when I fell into a ravine full of rocks. Light and love". It is not clear why many entities believed that the sitters could be impressed by their manifestation, when the sitters had often declared to be completely calm. From this and from other clues one gets the impression that communications were often one-way.
(June 24, 1947) "Another spirit says: Light and lots of yellow flowers like those that mom used to put in the living room. I am happy that you know that I still live more than before. I wish my mother and sister could know that I am not dead. My body lies in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean. I wanted to try to appear before my mother and sister with my body, to convince them that I was not dead, but everything was useless, I could not take hold of the mass that before pushed me to a thousand things and to which now I no longer think. Light and lots of yellow flowers like those that mom used to put in the living room".
A rather long communication of October 21, 1947: "I am the guide of a spirit that has passed away recently; that attraction of love was something that had to lead me to make contact with this new brother who felt his passing. He is here in my field and is happy; I give you his thought: I seem to be like yesterday; I was surprised not to find myself, it is also certain that I have not ceased to exist. I even tried to lift my body to show that I existed, but it was a vain effort: in the end I resisted and I started walking up and down the room, with my hands on my hips, so that all those busy around my body could realize my sudden change. Everything was in vain. I tried to scream in full voice; it was strange that I did not hear my voice, that is, I felt it as distant as an echo in a well. I do not know how much I bustled to show me alive, I thought I was dreaming. Then I got serious, so serious, and I felt so sad, but this was very different from the one I felt before. I felt I was alone. I do not know why the pharmacy clock came to my mind, and I suddenly found myself inside its mechanism. I had a lot of joy and I felt like a voice; I shook myself to definitely wake up. Now I am here, happy to go on in the divine goodness. I feel you are like me, a little bit different because you have a body. I am happy that there is a passage which allows us to get closer. Be happy because I enjoy, I enjoy this life, I enjoy this nonexistent death and enjoy you. I wish you happiness and, thinking of you, I pray for you. I still love you and I greet you. My body was called Giuseppe; I left it in my homeland: Belgium. I am so happy and I would be so much happier if I had known you when I had a body. I passed away while they performed surgery on me. My body was very mangled, but this memory does not haunt me anymore. I am happy, so happy, and I love you immensely".
(March 1st, 1948) "A spirit, touching you, says: Alberto and Mario; Viale Guglielmo Marconi, perhaps Florence, perhaps Livorno. I have been and have passed away when my body was still small... Another spirit says: Nanjing. I passed away there. I always ran, I went into the fray and I could not realize why I was invulnerable. Then I realized that I continued to live even if my body was lying on the ground. I incited my mates, incited my brother; these bent over my body and did not care about me, while I was there and suffered from their pain. I wanted to raise a musket, but I could not. I decided then to take a nap, thinking that my strength would come back to me again. I do not know how long I slept…".
(April 7, 1948) "A spirit touched the medium; perhaps someone of you thought a lot of her: I have a vague memory of having had a body: a woman. My body's name was perhaps Lucia, but I do not want to deceive you because it could have been... I want to be called with the name that was once given to my body, which I think has never existed".
(May 19, 1948) "A spirit touches me; he almost kisses me as if he had material lips, and he dives again into the cohesion. Here is his thought: I was Alvino, and I would like to be him again. Yvonne, Maria, Ada, Iole; names of people that I remember, but whom I do not see before my eyes any more. He took back cohesion right now. When I communicate with you many words, many sentences escape me; yet I help myself by getting them out of this money-box which is the brain of your medium that kindly lends himself".
(September 29, 1948) "I perceive another spirit; this does not realize that we are in communication. He has a thought: The car. He feels my call, but behaves as if he still had a body. He says: The car. In Florence. I fell asleep and I did not find my shoes anymore. I can reason. He has joy touching my spirit. Perhaps he passed away a short time ago. He still touches me and says: Car... Another spirit touches the medium, but does not give me thought. Another, by touching, communicates: I send you good thoughts. I do not see God as they describe him; I feel him inside me. I can not see him because he has no appearance, opposite to what I imagined. Happiness and love be with you. I've been in Africa. I think I fought, but I do not know if I won. Only I won death. I wanted to collect a body of which not even the shape existed any longer. He touches someone of you again and says: Joy for them who managed to get in touch with our world. Now he goes towards the infinite with the speed of thought".
(November 4, 1948) "A spirit who has just passed away is going through my field. Perhaps she has brought herself to the place where her body passed away, or perhaps where her family is. Here is her thought: I'm dead, but I'm not dead. I drowned myself. Do not tell anyone because they might be scared. I drowned just now. I fell but I did not drown. I did not want to drown; it was the impetus of the run. When the water wet me I laughed so much, so much indeed, seeing that I had not bathed at all. I tried to calm, to reassure, but no one could listen to me. It was like a dream. It was the impetus of the run; I fell but I did not want to drown. She is still in my field and wishes light to all of you. Another spirit gives me thought: Pierino Formi. Maybe I met you, but I do not know... I tried to get in touch with my parents, but everything was in vain; they think they have lost me forever. I seem to have fallen, I do not know when. In vain I tried to get in touch with my parents. A spirit touches my field. He is trying to focus his memory; he tries, through the brains of our medium that kindly lends himself, to find out a name: Alamanno Moggi. I remember that I knew this name. Do you want to satisfy my curiosity? The name I mentioned is one of yours, or was it mine?" We answer that the name remembered by the spirit belonged to him during his earthly life. "Are you from San Gimignano?" After our negative answer the guide goes on to say: "He touches your spirits one by one; touches the spirit of the medium and mine. He says again: Perhaps I have known you, but everything is blurred through joy. There is no fever. I will pray with pure love for everyone".
At the end of this sitting, when the guide had already removed the field, an entity was able to communicate in direct voice, and some of his sentences were recorded in the minutes: Your prayer must not taste of kneeling. A moment of thought is a true prayer... You will see at your passing what a marvelous thing it is. Your eyes close and others open, able to see more wonderfully. What you are experiencing now is nothing but a dream. You seem to act, to own a given thing, and yet you do not own anything but your spirit, and neither this is yours... Your body through the processes of the infinite will have to return to the first state of matter and your spirit will be free again... Death is a hoax which gives joy...
On November 18, 1948, the same entity who said to have drowned showed up again: "Another spirit that is in my field touches some of you, and says by thought that I transmit in sound: I would like to laugh. Do not be afraid. I drowned. I would like to return for a moment to tell you that everything was a bad dream. It was the impetus of the run: I did not want to drown myself. She touches our medium. She says again: Why do not you do something for me by waking me up and taking me to my house? I can not wake up. I tried to shake and shake myself but I can not do it. Perhaps she is still under the nightmare of death, scarecrow of mankind". Reading the reports of communications we often have the impression that the mediumistic contact establishes a connection with a timeless dimension, in which some messages are repeated with some variant in an almost casual way, devoid of the logical coordination that our memory gives to the chronology of events: the entities do not even remember if they have passed away for long or very recently, and often they seem to live in a sort of fog created by a state of blissful intoxicating daze.
(December 14, 1948) "A spirit wishes light to Maria, Cesare and others. He says: Fourteenth in Russia. A machine-gun burst brought me down. I felt no pain, nor even the cold that had frozen me just before, so that I can not describe. I no longer heard any noise. My pace was light, so light that I did not even seem to be walking. I was happy because I thought I was dreaming. No more pain; the cold no longer existed; the sunlight was nothing; the daylight was opaque. I wanted to take something out of my eyes but I could not. Then I felt like all flooded with a new light and I felt that there was someone like me (alludes to the guide). Then I understood and sensed that it was a new light. But I did not want to detach myself from my body, and I followed it while others, I remember exactly, tried to hold it up. I have no weight and I'm not even scared. Still I am not sated of these beauties. Always wish you good for everyone. If you have sons who have fallen in war, do not think of them as dead and disappeared forever; every thought like this can make them sad. Think of them alive, more existing than before. I left a wife and maybe children, but I pray for them. Light and many good things".
On April 22, 1949, an entity can communicate directly with his own voice: I have passed away, I can not remember well, perhaps in the current war. This is like a suffering that can not be told if it is not tried; it is a fleeting moment in which it seems that everything is lost for us, and nothing will be left to us. I do not know if you are interested or afraid. It's strange; you can not see me and I had a body like you. Now it is like a thought left and I still beg to stay here. I do not know how much I weight, or if I am made of air, but I feel that I exist; I can not see you but I feel that I exist. I have as a hope of being among you with a contact through our beautiful field. I have no body; this does not matter; you have body and yet you are made like me, equal, identical. You have a brain and therefore a thought like me. God exists. Everything is beautiful; everything is reflected and everything speaks of God: plants, flowers, trees, sun and stars. I can use the force of someone like you, but I can not abuse someone like you. I do not know how my voice comes, if it is gloomy or else. Thank you. You can not see me but I am and I remain.
The case of the aviator Herbert
Many other communications, occasional or recurring, were recorded in the minutes, and it would be interesting to make a comparative examination of all this material. I limit myself to mentioning only two cases. The first is related to an entity, Herbert, who claimed to have been an American aviator (from Miami) who died in war when his plane crashed into the sea. Over the years Herbert showed up several times, always asking the Japanese to forgive him for having bombed them and begging them not to hate him for this: (October 14, 1947) "A spirit touches me; he enters my field; here, he gives me thought: A lot of good to all of you and to all those who knew me like you. I do not remember exactly how they called my body but it seems to me that it was called Herbert. I can not remember much anymore. The past through the physical seems to me so uncertain and everything vanishes like in a nebula; I only have the vague memory of a bad dream that I lived next to you. Perhaps we were allies or perhaps enemies but that does not matter, the importance is that everything was a vision, a terrible vision. I have known of your contact because I have continually followed you through this essence (the guide) who with love creates our transmission, and I take this opportunity to wish you so much good and a good continuation on your path. Be good. I wish I had all of you with me before that trivial incident that seemed to want to lose me. I touch you and I am so happy that you know the truth, now I cease to converse physically and my thinking is all about God. I still think of you. Be like brothers and always you will be".
(December 5, 1947) "A spirit gives me his thought: A lot of good and a lot of health to all of you. We will meet again and we will be immensely happy to have lived a nonexistent earthly dream. Your Herbert. If I harmed you during the so-called war, please forgive those vices, only wanted by the transcendence of blind matter. If you are Japanese, pray for me and I will pray for you. One day, when you too will be like me, I will pray a moment to have the mouth and laugh, laugh at the hoax that was prepared to us. We wanted it, as I will still want to take again a body and still dream believing to dream. This is the proof that sublimes the spirit. I love you and I pray for you and your loved ones. Your Herbert".
(January 5, 1948) "A spirit who is in my field gives me thought: Herbert. I remember you with my thought. Thank you and do not hate me if sometimes I bombed your Japan. I have joy in touching you often. Do not hate me if I bombed you and killed some of your family members. It was matter ranteing against matter, but the spirit was always turned to God".
(March 25, 1948) "Another spirit says: Herbert. Do not hate me, if you are Japanese; it was the matter that bombed. Perhaps I may have destroyed your houses; perhaps I may have put an end to the bodies of your sons and your mothers. Do not hate me. My plane fell into the ocean. I went with it deep into the sea, but I did not feel that water bathing me. I was sinking like entering a bad dream, but I did not suffer. Forgive me. I wish you love, happiness and lots of flowers".
(March 16, 1950) "Another asks if you are Japanese. He gives me thought; I have already reassured him that you are not Japanese. Please forgive me if you are Japanese, if I have bombed you houses, your children, your mothers. I fell into the ocean hit, as if by punishment, by a fighter with a yellow snout. Forgive me. I was called Herbert, but everything is joy and we are all brothers. I pray for all of you and one day we will embrace each other united. He touches the medium, touches you and with the speed of the thought he goes on through the infinite. It's like a nightmare for him, and as soon as I perceive your thoughts and arrange the field, this spirit, Herbert, comes after me and wants to know if you're Japanese. Here again he touches me, touches you. He says he passed away through one of those...". Despite Mariòl's clarifications, even in subsequent communications Herbert always kept repeating: «I don't know if you are Japanese». (April 4, 1951) "Another says: I've been among you and I've always thought of you. I have prayed for you, but if you are Japanese I beg you not to hate me, as I have no more a body. I will not hurt you, but I will do good to all of you". (One of the sitters says): "Mariòl, please, tell this spirit that we are not Japanese, but even if we were we would love him anyway". "I calmed him. He gives me thought: Love to you. He has a name that sounds to you as Herbert. He was afraid you were Japanese. He does not know who you are, but you are brothers. He has joy, he vibrates with joy. He touches the medium that gently lends himself, touches you and says in thought: It was like a bad dream, a terrible dream that seemed to never end. God is great; God forgives every offense, even the most serious is forgiven. I was forgiven and I pray so much if I harmed some people. Light and lots of flowers to you and your loved ones. Are you from Florida?".
But until the end Herbert kept asking: «Are you Japanese?». (December 21, 1951) "A spirit gives me thought: Are you in Japan? I was with the aviation to bomb because it was war. Do not hate me if I have caused you serious damage and if I have killed your loved ones; perhaps your fathers, sons, mothers, sisters. I do not tell you who I am because otherwise you could believe that I was a liar". In that séance Herbert did not even remember to have already communicated his name. Ravaldini too, in his article published in the issue 1996/3 of Luce e Ombra, asked himself some questions: «Anyway, one aspect of the communications remained incomprehensible, because every time he showed up he asked if we were Japanese, although we had always assured him that we were Italian... He seemed to have an obsession, like a particular monoideism so sovereign in his thoughts, that in direct contact with the terrestrial environment, with matter, systematically made him forget our previous assurances, that is, that we were not Japanese... It is a mystery, one of many that surround that long cycle of mediumistic séances. It should be borne in mind, however, that particular lapses occur in the so-called transcendental communications, even if obtained from valid mediums. Therefore we should always take into account these gaps in judging such phenomena and be very cautious before attributing their origin exclusively to hypothetical telepathic transmissions or even to more or less conscious tricks perpetrated by the mediums».
The case of the priest Giuseppe Riccardi
In the minutes of the session of November 18, 1948, a communication of particular interest is recorded, always obtained through Mariòl's direct voice: "A spirit is in my field. Here is his thought: I can not see you, but I feel that you exist as I existed. I was a priest. I have happiness. I'm glad you know finally what the truth is. With the revolver she killed me. I do not hold a grudge. I was a priest in Canton, Ohio. Giuseppe Riccardi. I do not know who you are; I only know that we are brothers. We are not against each other, we are brothers. A woman hit me after I celebrated the mass. The priest does not count; counts brother Giuseppe Riccardi. After being hit I felt very hot; I tried to avoid to be hit again. I got up and wanted to ask why that woman had hit me with her gun. She was prey to hysteria. She did not listen to me; she did not feel that I invited her as if to lift my body. But this is no longer necessary. We're all brothers. I wish you light and the most beautiful flowers of Ohio...". The identifying elements of this communication led Ravaldini to carry out some investigations many years later, in 1979, as he himself told in Realtà e Mistero (page 235 and following). In particular, this box was found published on the last page of Livorno's newspaper Il Telegrafo of March 12, 1929, in the Last of the night section.
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Other research performed on the weekly La Domenica del Corriere and on the newspaper La Nazione, to check if the news was reported in a period following the date on which the event occurred (March 10, 1929), gave a negative result. Ravaldini also wrote to professor Ian Stevenson at University of Virginia, asking him if he could get more information about that episode that must have had some feedback, at least locally, in the city of Canton. Finally in 1987 he received this letter, reported on page 238 of Realtà e Mistero.
13 August 1987
Dear Signor Ravaldini,
I take this opportunity to introduce myself as the research assistant of Dr. Ian Stevenson. Dr. Stevenson asked me to undertake the search for details of the death of Father Giuseppe Riccardi. I have learned from the Assistant Archivist of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, that a Father Giuseppe Riccardi, a priest of St. Anthony's Church in Canton, died on March 10, 1929. Father Riccardi had served that parish since 1925. I have no information as to the cause of Fr. Riccardi's death, but I am writing to the Canton newspapers as well as Ohio historical societies for a copy (if available) of his obituary. I will keep you informed of the progress of future inquiries... Yours sincerely, Susan M. Adams.
Note the misprint in the box of Il Telegrafo: Chio instead of Ohio. As rightly Ravaldini observed: «The medium's education was limited to elementary school and also wanting to hypothesize that at 16 years (that is, in 1929) he had accidentally learned about the murder of Father Riccardi, reported by Il Telegrafo, and had then buried it in his own unconscious, that news should have remained there as it appeared in the newspaper. The newspaper speaks generically of Canton, which immediately brings to mind the great Chinese town, even more if the word that follows it in brackets, rather than indicating the American state of Ohio, due to a misprint literally says Chio –as can be seen in the reproduction of the text above –, which makes one think of a Chinese province. So, wanting to interpret that mediumistic communication as a cryptomnesic phenomenon, the fictitious personality should have said Chio, not Ohio. And this last word was instead correctly repeated twice by the self-styled personality of Father Riccardi». Ravaldini also notes how the modalities of the death, recalled by the entity as almost instantaneous in the communications reported in the minutes, do not coincide with what is reported in the article: perhaps the separation of consciousness from the body was immediate, just after the shots, while the cessation of the vital functions occurred later, after the transport to the hospital. Also for this reason an interpretation exclusively based on cryptomnesia is not conclusive.
In 1990 a complete and accurate article was published on the SPR Journal (vol. 56, n. 821, page 257 and following), signed by Silvio Ravaldini, Massimo Biondi and Ian Stevenson, on the Riccardi case and the further developments of the investigations carried out. Those interested in reading the original in English can see it here in pdf, or download it (right-click > save with name). In a commemorative article about Ravaldini, published on issue 2016/1 of Luce e Ombra, Massimo Biondi wrote to have found further information about Giuseppe Riccardi: «a person of great stature in his religious work and in contrast to the local mafia, who was killed for this very reason».