A stone engraved with the Greatest Name has no magical power, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells an inquirer; it is a reminder, and in a moment of anger it recalls a person to what he has promised. That distinction between a symbol that changes conduct and an object believed to act on its own runs through the whole subject. Fear of the evil eye does its damage in the mind that expects it; fortune-telling and divination are the domain of diviners, not of the righteous, and the saints revealed secrets only unasked; séances in which spirits move tables are phantasmagoria, though spirit does speak to spirit as surely as a teacher conveys an idea to a pupil with nothing tangible passing between them. Psychic forces are real, he says, but not to be tampered with on this plane. The Buddha, asked by Kevatta for a public wonder, declined and preferred the miracle of instruction, while never denying that such powers exist [1]. The road leads onward into superstition and its dispelling, into what is meant by demons and evil spirits, into the soul and the spirit after death, and into the sciences that clear the air.
Someone wished to know if it were a good custom to wear a symbol, as, for instance, a cross. He said: "You wear the cross for remembrance, it concentrates your thoughts; it has no magical power. Baha'is often wear a stone with the greatest name engraved on it: there is no magical influence in the stone; it is a reminder, and companion. If you are about to do some selfish or hasty action, and your glance falls on the ring on your hand, you will remember and change your intention."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in Sep. 1911 in London -- ABU3168)
02
Are the gifts of clairvoyance, and clairaudience true, and can we attain them?
He said thoughtfully: "I think we should learn to live in the body as if it were a glass case, through which we can look clearly on all sides. But we must remember that we can not see through glass unless it is clean, and no one can dust his own case but himself."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mary Hanford Ford in 1910 -- ABU3232)
03
For example, if someone becomes known for having an evil eye, that this person has a malevolent gaze, and another person believes and is convinced about the effects of the evil eye, when that person known for having an evil eye looks at this poor soul, the one who believes becomes agitated and disturbed, and expects some calamity to befall them.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1907-Jan-24, to Bamis Mihraban -- AB05067)
04
And what you have asked about is the domain of fortune-tellers and diviners, not of the righteous. In no age have the saints of God engaged in such childish games, and if they revealed hidden secrets, it was without being asked, rather it was purely through the manifestation of the Lord's bestowal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1903 ca., to Karbala'i Iskandar from Usku -- AB02886)
05
By virtue of this, he prohibited busying oneself with it and working with these kinds of sciences, including divination (jafr) and geomancy (raml), was forbidden in most of the Tablets. (This was done) so that a deceiving person could not display himself in the cloth of trustworthiness and not exceed the limitations of himself, like Karim (Khan Kirmani), as addressed to him in the Iqan: "We cherish the hope that either a king or a man of preeminent power may call upon him to translate this science from the realm of fancy to the domain of fact…"
The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.
06
As for the question of spirit communication which is now discussed among people - these are delusions, and certain displays are produced through contrivances. If it were true, there would be no need for material and political measures and economic arts. Every government would choose someone to communicate with spirits and consult about the realities of events.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1920-Jul-14, to Jamshid Khudadad Farsi -- AB02512)
07
The power is neither heavenly nor spiritual; neither is it an influence from disembodied spirits. It is of the human spirit--magnetism within the self of the one doing the writing. When the thoughts have taken possession of the mind and are not consciously directed, one becomes subject to their promptings and, unconsciously, or automatically, takes a pencil and writes them down. The oftener this is done, the stronger becomes the magnetic prompting.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Helen Goodall and Ella Cooper spoken in Jan. 1908 -- ABU1727)
08
Q. Why and how is it that evil or unseen forces have the power to control one's affairs and why is it permissible for those forces to influence a person in any direction?
A. This is but the imagination of mankind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1907-Apr-15 -- ABU3641)
09
Abdul-Baha told Miss Buckton not to tamper with the psychic forces in this
world. It hampers and retards the condition of the body both in this world and especially the world to come. These forces are real, but not to be active on this plane.
The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.
10
Question - Can we communicate with the spirits of the departed?
'Abdu'l-Baha said that there is a communication between spirits, but that the spiritual seances as given in Europe where spirits are supposed to move objects, etc., are phantasmagoria. That spirit can communicate with spirit is proven by the known fact of teaching. It is a self-evident fact that nothing tangible passes from the teacher to the pupil, yet ideas are conveyed.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mr and Mrs Hannen, spoken on 1909-Feb-23 -- ABU2773)
11
[The question was asked if it were possible to establish communication with the dead, and whether it was wise or advisable to attend seances or to engage in table-turning, spirit-rapping, etc.]
The Master said these rappings, etc., were all material things, and of the body. What is needed is to rise above the material to the realms of the purely Spiritual. Table-turning and such like were material, a natural result, and not spiritual.
But it was possible to communicate with the dead through the condition of the character and the heart.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in Sep. 1911 in London -- ABU3265)
12
Asked if disembodied souls could communicate with embodied ones, He replied:
"Yes, but they do not do it through medums nor in material ways, but in spiritual ways."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Aline Shane-Devin spoken on 1907-Oct-14 -- ABU3549)
13
Speaking about the fantastic hyperboles of the Suffists as regards the projection of spirit out of the body and even the transference of the body from one place to another the Master told this story which is recorded in the Sufi literature and believed as possible by many devotees.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to some visitors, spoken at Rue St. Didier 30 on 1913-Feb-27 -- ABU1478)
14
As for your second question about wearing talismans and prayers, or dissolving the Greatest Name in water and drinking it to cure illness: if these two acts are done with complete attention, purity of heart, sincere intention and spiritual attraction, their effect is powerful.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1906 ca., to Jamshid Khudadad Farsi -- AB01473)
15
Abduil Baha: What the people claim regarding the other side and that they receive messages from that place is not quite so, they only feel something within themselves, but they do not perceive, there is a great difference between feeling and perception.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1907-Apr-15 -- ABU3397)
16
Thus if you desire protection from the powers of the world and earthly influences, place the Greatest Name in your dwelling, wear the ring of the Greatest Name, and keep Abdul Baha'is photograph in your home. Read my prayers always and thus see a wonderful effect, causing all superstitious powers and influences to vanish away.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1904-Jan-24, to Emma Ort -- AB06032)
How does a symbol that prompts a change in conduct differ from an object believed to act independently, and what practices help keep that distinction alive?
What roles do fear, expectation, and a desire for certainty play in the practices described here?
How do the selections about spiritual communication shift attention toward character and relationship, and what tensions remain when they are read beside the devotional passage about talismans?
What does the Kevatta Sutta’s preference for instruction add to the discussion of extraordinary experiences, and how might that comparison change the aims of a spiritual search?