Invisible Helpers

With startling suddenness, a voice which I know well—the voice of an Indian teacher A reference to a 'Master' or spiritual guide, common in Theosophical literature.—cried in my ear, "Spring back!" and in mechanical obedience, I started violently backward almost before I had time to think. As I did so, my umbrella, which had swung forward with the sudden movement, was struck from my hand, and a huge metal chimney-pot crashed upon the pavement less than a yard in front of my face. The great weight of this object, and the tremendous force with which it fell, make it absolutely certain that but for the warning voice I should have been killed on the spot; yet the street was empty, and the voice was that of one whom I knew to be seven thousand miles away from me, as far as the physical body was concerned.

Nor was this the only occasion upon which I received assistance of this supernormal supernormal: beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation kind, for in early life, long before the foundation of the Theosophical Society, the apparition of a dear one who had recently died prevented me from committing what I now see would have been a serious crime, although by the light of such knowledge as I then had, it appeared not only a justifiable but even a laudable act of retaliation. Again, at a later date, though still before the foundation of this Society, a warning conveyed to me from a higher plane higher plane: in Theosophy, a level of existence beyond the physical amid most impressive surroundings enabled me to prevent