Book Report: Practical Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing by William Walker Atkinson (c) 1908

Background Information: The Publisher, The Yogi Publication Society is a press started by William Walker Atkinson at the turn of the 20th. century to promote his writings on "New Thought," which was the New Age movement of the time. Atkinson himself was quite a character. He was a prolific writer, with over 150 books to his credit, often under any of several pen names. He rose to prominence at the beginning of the 20th century, but seems to have become forgotten in the following decades, though he and the Yogi Publication books are experiencing a new renaissance at the beginning of the 21 century.
Many of the books were written by Atkinson, but they also published other prominent metaphysical works by other authors. The company has changed hands a number of times, so many that the original history was lost to the current owners, but the books are still in print, and still inspiring spiritual seekers. 
While he used other pen names for his books on Yoga and other esoterical, he usually reserved his own name as author of books on psychic sciences. 

This is another little booklet published by the Yogi Publication Society, slightly less than 6 inches tall but containing over 90 pages of information for developing your psychic skills. The first chapter describes the scientific theory behind psychic phenomena and the human aura ans well as telling you about the five psychic senses, which are the same as our physical senses, but operate on the psychic plane. He goes on to offer basic ways to develop you abilities though concentration and visualization and includes us of the crystal ball, or an inexpensive substitute, which, as with most authors on the subject, he considers primarily a tool to help focus and strengthen your mental concentration. 

Despite it's small size, the book covers all the basic psychic skills including clairvoyance, clairaudience, crystal gazing, astral projection, past and future seeing and even dream psychomancy. 

Of interesting note is the description of The Psychic Tube. I don't know whether this is a creation of Atkinson, but it was also included in several prominent courses in meditation and mental development. In a nutshell, once you've developed your psychic abilities and you want to send a message to someone far away, or perhaps you just want to take a look atd what's going on there, you imagine a tube of psychic power stretching from your mind to your target and send or receive through it.  Does it work? I'd love to hear your experiences! 

This book is out of copyright and reprinted by a number of presses. You can still find the Yogi Pub version currently on sale, as well as vintage copies for your collection.