Theos-Talk Archives (December 1994 Message tl00089)

Here is some introductory information on the Geoffrey Hodson work
I was involved with around 1978, as promised to Martin Euser.

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Geoffrey Hodson had a strong desire to apply his seership to
subject areas such as medical diagnosis, archaeology and music,
as well as more "theosophical" subjects like the deva kingdom,
because he wished to indicate the potential of clairvoyant
research in these areas, and hoped that others would continue
this kind of work.

Hodson often asked people who had some academic or
generally-accepted type of knowledge in those fields, to propose
questions before or during his actual observations.

One reason for this was that there was invariably a wide range of
phenomena and aspects to observe at every point along the way,
and he wanted to address questions that would be significant to
the outer world of knowledge, as much as possible.

He asked me to help because I have university degrees in science,
specialising in physics, and am a musician with experience in
several fields.  Being a member of the TS helped establish a
basic rapport for him to work within, too.

The way I helped him in the music research, was to play musical
pieces and individual notes for observation, organise other
musicians to sing and play, and pose various questions during
observation.  I was present throughout.

The music research is published in somewhat condensed form in the
book Clairvoyant Investigations by G.H., available through any
bookstore holding theosophical books.  The sessions were recorded
in short hand, without a tape recorder.

I also helped Hodson with a series of observation sessions in the
so-called Occult Chemistry field, using a clairvoyant faculty of
magnification like a super microscope to observe from molecules
down to subatomic particles.  This work was proposed by the late
Dr E.  Lester Smith of England, to test some hypotheses that were
intended to reconcile the O.C.  observations of CW Leadbeater and
Annie Besant, with atomic structure as understood in the last
quarter of the 20th century.

In this work, I prepared crystal samples of the 3 isomers of
di-hydroxy benzene which Lester Smith hoped would yield
information to distinguish between candidate theories.  I tape
recorded each session and, again, asked questions at various
points in the proceedings.  Initial rough transcriptions of these
tapes were subsequently made, and the work of converting them
into accurate transcriptions is partly done.

The di-hydroxy benzenes are better known by the names
hydroquinone, resorcinol and and hydrocatechol, if my memory
serves me correctly.  My original notes were somewhat buried in a
sea of boxes during our recent house shift and will become more
accessible as we unpack and get a study built.

I cannot really say whether any evidence significant to Lester
Smith's concerns was contained in Hodson's findings because my
briefing was deliberately vague, to preserve a double blind
aspect.  This also made it very difficult to direct Hodson to the
desired scale of magnification and type of perceptual object, or
for him to know exactly what to look for.  The information field
was simply vast and we didn't have an adequate road map for the
job.

Hodson certainly had many interesting and amazing perceptions
throughout this work, however.  The sad thing is that Lester
Smith has passed away now, having only ever received a summary of
the findings from me.  Major trauma and commitments over the
years interfered with getting the transcripts finished, even
though I farmed part of the work out to others.

Geoffrey did most of the O.C.  research in bed, sitting up.  This
helped to conserve energy for the process - not unreasonably,
seeing he was nearly 90 at the time.  The music work was done in
the lounge at his home or elsewhere.

This kind of work was clearly a great drain on his energy.
Often, after half an hour or so, he would get a bit of a headache
and need to stop for a gentle head massage from his wife, Sandra.

He would start by chanting the word Om several times, fairly
softly most of the time, to get the kundalini going and tune into
the universal life.  You could feel the air get kind of electric
at this time.  Occasionally, during observation, he would say it
again, apparently to sustain or increase the energy available for
the work.

I must confess to having passed through a period of considerable
doubt at one time during the work with him.  He was quite used to
this, however, and said that a crisis of confidence invariably
arose in his collaborators on the physical plane, at some stage
of their work with him.  For me, it was one thing to know about
these things from reading about them in books, but another to be
with the real person, the real process, whatever it was - the
difference between third-hand knowledge and second-hand
knowledge, in a way, needing a bit of mental readjustment.  I am
comfortable with clairvoyants now, having worked through that
stuff then.  That doesn't mean I've turned off a careful,
scrutinizing attitude, though; not at all.

On this, it is interesting that one day, during a rest between
observations, Geoffrey said "In this game, you have to be more of
a materialist than the materialists!" He was saying here, and the
rest of the conversation, that the would-be seer has to check
everything, dig below the surface as far as possible, identify
and reject all wishful thinking, and rely on observation only,
yet be always open to correction when new evidence came along.
Yes, a lot of materialists would flunk that test.

So, to conclude this piece, I hope that between myself and
another TS member in New Zealand, the transcripts can be
completed in the next year or so.  We have already been trying,
without much success, over the last couple of years.  They'll
probably be about 50 pages in length.

Murray Stentiford
murray@sss.co.nz