Swan on a Black Sea: A Study in Automatic Writing: The Cummins-Willett Scripts

«I believe that these automatic scripts are a very important addition to the vast mass of such material which prima facie suggests rather strongly that certain human beings» — la tesis de Broad sobre lo que estos scripts añaden: los tiene por adición importante a la masa de material que, a primera vista, sugiere con bastante fuerza algo sobre ciertos seres humanos; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en la siguiente.

«have survived the death of their physical bodies and have been able to communicate with certain others who are still in the flesh.» — y ahí acaba la frase de Broad cortada en la plana anterior: que han sobrevivido a la muerte de sus cuerpos físicos y han podido comunicarse con otros que siguen en la carne.

«I think that these scripts are of special interest for the follow¬» — Broad anuncia la razón por la que tiene a estos scripts por de interés especial; el troceo corta la palabra following con el guion U+00AC que usa en todo el volumen.

«I had not the slightest idea at the time, or indeed until it was made public after her death, that she had mediumistic gifts and had regularly exercised them.» — Broad declara su propio desconocimiento: hasta que se hizo público tras la muerte de ella no supo que tuviera dones mediúmnicos ni que los ejerciera con regularidad.

«Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s mediumship was, in fact, a most carefully guarded secret.» — y de ahí el hallazgo que ordena el caso: la mediumnidad de la comunicadora fue un secreto guardado con el mayor cuidado.

«she must have well known that the faintest hint of ‘spookiness’ would excite» — la razón que Broad le atribuye a ese secreto: ella debía de saber que el menor indicio de cosa espectral despertaría; la frase se corta en el cambio de plana.

«irrational prejudice and would be used without scruple to ham¬ per her activities and to cast doubt on her judgment.» — y ahí acaba: prejuicio irracional, usado sin escrúpulo para estorbar sus actividades y poner en duda su juicio; el troceo corta hamper con el guion U+00AC que usa en todo el volumen.

«she became convinced, on what appeared to her adequate personal evidence, of Daphne’s survival, and in general, to quote her own words, that death is‘no more than a doorway admitting to a fuller and freer life’.» — la convicción que Broad atribuye a la comunicadora, con las palabras de ella dentro: que la muerte no es más que una puerta que da paso a una vida más plena y más libre.

«they decided that, if he should find himself suddenly in the next world, he should start with the expectation of meeting Daphne and his uncle by mar¬ riage, F. W. H. Myers. If he were not at once to be in touch with them, he was to inquire for them.» — la primera mitad del pacto, en la parte que toca al hijo: si se hallaba de golpe en el otro mundo, debía esperar encontrar a la hermana muerta y al tío por matrimonio, y si no daba con ellos, preguntar por ellos.

«Thereafter he was to concentrate on getting his bearings in his new and unfamiliar situation. He was to keep constantly in mind that his mother would be all right, that she would know that he was essentially unchanged, and that she would be trying to help him telepathi» — y lo que debía hacer después: orientarse en la situación nueva y tener presente que la madre estaría bien, lo sabría esencialmente el mismo, y trataría de ayudarlo telepáticamente; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«they agreed that she would try to avoid excessive grief, as a disturbing factor in their relations; that she would hold on to the belief that a period of deeper intimacy between them had now begun» — la parte del pacto que toca a la madre: evitar el duelo excesivo por ser factor perturbador del trato, y sostener que empezaba entre ellos un periodo de intimidad más honda.

«He is to me as if just out of a severe operation—my steady hand in his is what he needs now . . . He will soon get his bearings there, and whether he does it happily and easily depends on what telepathic impressions he gets from us—especially from me» — de una carta de la madre del día siguiente a la noticia: lo ve como recién salido de una operación grave, dice que lo que necesita es su mano firme, y hace depender de las impresiones telepáticas de los vivos, y sobre todo de las suyas, la facilidad con que él se oriente allá.

«We may sum up all this side of Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s per¬ sonality and life by remarking that she was one of the many conspicuous counter-instances to the silly popular belief that a person with mystical or mediumistic gifts must eo ipso be ‘moony’ and incompetent in practical affairs.» — la tesis con que Broad cierra el inventario: la comunicadora es contraejemplo de la creencia popular, que él llama tonta, de que quien tiene dones místicos o mediúmnicos ha de ser lunático e incapaz en los asuntos prácticos.

«we might mention St. Birgitta of Sweden, St. Teresa of Spain, and Florence Nightingale, as women conspicuous for energy, busi¬ ness ability, and outstanding practical achievement, who would have made a very poor showing on the currently accepted tests for bodily and mental normality and psychological integra¬» — y extiende el contraejemplo fuera del círculo de la S.P.R.: Brígida de Suecia, Teresa de España y Florence Nightingale, mujeres de energía y logro práctico que, dice, saldrían muy mal paradas en las pruebas corrientes de normalidad e integración psicológica.

«we learn in great detail what the ostensible communicators (purporting to be the surviving spirits of Myers and of Gurney) told, first to Lodge and later to Balfour, through Mrs. Willett’s automatic script or trance-speech, about the use which they claimed to be deliberately making of her, of the methods which they employed, and of the difficulties which they encountered in attempting various kinds of communication through her.» — Broad resume lo que el trabajo de Gerald Balfour contiene, que es la materia de este libro: lo que los comunicadores ostensibles dijeron del uso que declaraban hacer de la médium, de sus métodos y de las dificultades que hallaban para comunicar por ella.

«These seem to me to be some of the most interest¬ ing and the most intellectually impressive products of trancemediumship of which we have any record.» — y el juicio de Broad sobre ese material: de lo más interesante e intelectualmente impresionante que se tiene registrado de mediumnidad de trance.

«But she had little interest in, or capacity for, psychological analysis or philosophical specula¬ tion. It is no insult to say (what, indeed, she often said herself) that these ostensible communications through her Willett per¬ sonality were altogether above her head, or, as she once im¬ patiently put it, ‘all so much Greek to me’.» — y ese límite es el argumento: poco interés y poca capacidad para el análisis psicológico o la especulación filosófica, de modo que las comunicaciones ostensibles quedaban, con la frase que ella misma usaba, por encima de su cabeza.

«It was then found that there had been repeated references to this in Mrs. Willett’s earlier scripts and trance-utterances, long before the first of her few meetings with A. J. Balfour.» — y el hallazgo que Broad consigna: que los scripts y las locuciones en trance anteriores traían referencias repetidas a ese objeto, muy anteriores al primero de los pocos encuentros de la médium con el hermano.

«It was the death of her daughter Daphne on July 21, 1908, that revived her interest and was the occasion of the beginning of her own mediumship.» — la tesis de Broad sobre el origen: la muerte de la hija revivió el interés y fue la ocasión en que empezó la mediumnidad propia de la comunicadora.

«On reading this Report Mrs. Coombe Tennant felt an impulse to try for herself. She described these early attempts in a letter of October 8, 1908, to Mrs. Verrall. The scripts pur¬ ported to come from Myers. She was not much impressed by them, and she destroyed them.» — el primer intento, con su desenlace: los escritos ostensiblemente venidos de Myers no la impresionaron y los destruyó.

«she received, in the course of a script ostensibly emanating from Myers, an order to stop writing, to try to apprehend the ideas that would be put into her head, and to record them in ordinary writing either at once or at the earliest convenient later moment.» — el cambio de procedimiento que, según Broad, llega dentro de un script atribuido a Myers: dejar de escribir, aprehender las ideas que se le pusieran en la cabeza y registrarlas en escritura ordinaria en cuanto pudiera.

«The next stage was that the ‘Myers-persona’ and the ‘Gurney-persona (to use a strictly non-committal phraseology) expressed a wish, in their ostensible communications through Mrs. Willett, that she should sit in the presence of another person and should dictate to him the impressions which she would receive from them.» — la etapa siguiente, con la fórmula deliberadamente neutral que Broad se impone, persona de Myers y persona de Gurney: el deseo de que ella se sentara ante otra persona y le dictara las impresiones recibidas.

«his reason for want¬ ing Balfour to become a sitter with Mrs. Willett was that Bal¬ four would be interested in the processes involved in communica¬ tion rather than in the products.» — la razón que la persona de Gurney dio, según Broad, para querer a Balfour de asistente: que se interesaría por los procesos de la comunicación y no por sus productos.

«I think that most competent commentators, who have devoted serious attention to them, would agree that they involve, on the part of Mrs. Willett, knowledge of particular facts and incidents and of highly recondite classical lore, which cannot plausibly be traced to any source normally available to Mrs. Coombe Ten¬ nant, and which are often highly characteristic of the interests, the erudition, and the idiosyncracies of the deceased scholars» — la tesis de Broad sobre lo que esa bibliografía sostiene: que los comentaristas competentes concederían que en esos scripts hay saber de hechos particulares y de erudición clásica recóndita no atribuible con verosimilitud a ninguna fuente normalmente accesible a la comunicadora, y a menudo característico de los eruditos muertos; el tramo se corta antes del folio de la plana.

«The two of them together devoted all their skill and learning, and most of the energies of their later years, to a minute study of the immense mass of script material, written by various automatists (including Mrs. Willett), which seems primafacie to suggest the survival and the deliberate post mortem collaboration of the group of Cambridge friends and contemporaries, Myers, Gurney, Sidgwick, Verrall, and Butcher.» — la tesis del grupo de Fisher’s Hill, dicha por Broad con la reserva de un a primera vista: la masa inmensa de scripts de varias automatistas parece sugerir la supervivencia y la colaboración deliberada, después de la muerte, del grupo de amigos de Cambridge; el troceo funde prima facie en una palabra.

«In this Synopsis I shall refer to the ostensible Communicator as ‘W.’ This may be taken to represent both Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s name ‘Winifred’ and the pseudonym ‘Mrs. Willett’ under which she was known in the literature of psychical research. It is to be understood as leaving completely open the question of the Communicator’s identity.» — la regla que Broad se impone y que es la del libro entero: llamar W. a la comunicadora ostensible, sigla que vale a la vez por el nombre y por el seudónimo, y dejar enteramente abierta la cuestión de su identidad.

«The reader is now in possession of a fairly adequate account of the content of the Scripts, of the dramatic form in which it was presented by the automatist, and of the kind of relevant infor¬ mation which might have been available to her from normal sources at the time when each script was written. He must make his own reflexions and draw his own conclusions.» — Broad cierra la sinopsis devolviendo el juicio al lector: le da el contenido, la forma dramática y la información que la automatista podía tener por vías normales, y le deja sacar sus propias conclusiones.

«The scripts are in the form of ostensible communications from the surviving personality of a certain deceased person. Any such material must in the first place be considered under the following» — y abre su propio balance fijando qué son los scripts en cuanto a forma, comunicaciones ostensibles de la personalidad sobreviviente de una persona muerta, y bajo qué dos encabezados hay que examinarlos.

«Under the first heading the following questions arise: (i) What proportion of the factual statements are verifiable or refut¬ able, either with certainty or with high probability? (ii) Of these, what proportion are specially relevant to the known relationships experiences, interests, knowledge, and beliefs of the ostensible communicator? (iii) Of the testable statements which have this special personal relevance, what proportion are certainly or very probably correct?» — las tres preguntas con que Broad examina la información fáctica: qué proporción de los enunciados es verificable o refutable, cuáles son de relevancia personal para la comunicadora ostensible, y cuántos de esos resultan correctos.

«Under the second heading come the following questions: (i) Does the form in which the ostensible communi¬ cations are couched suggest a single, self-consistent, outstanding personality? (ii) If so, does that personality seem, to those who were well acquainted with the deceased, to bear a striking resemb¬» — y las dos con que examina la forma dramática: si sugiere una personalidad única, consistente y destacada, y si esa personalidad se parece notablemente a la de la muerta para quienes la conocieron; el tramo se corta en el guion de renglón de resemblance.

«Statements by the ostensible communi¬ cator about her experiences at the point of death or in'the after¬ life cannot be tested.» — Broad aparta primero lo no comprobable: lo que la comunicadora ostensible dice de sus experiencias al morir o en el más allá; el troceo imprime in'the por in the.

«But, when all these are set aside, there remains a large mass of statements which can be tested.» — y deja en pie lo que sí se puede probar, que es sobre lo que descansa su argumento.

«And, in marked contrast to the contents of many mediumistic utterances, they are not in the least vague, general, allusive, or oracular.» — la característica que Broad opone a la mediumnidad corriente: estos enunciados no son vagos, generales, alusivos ni oraculares.

«They abound in extremely concrete detail about named persons and places, and about definite events in which these were concerned.» — y dice de qué están llenos: detalle concreto sobre personas y lugares nombrados y sobre sucesos definidos.

«Moreover, of the large mass of concrete testable statements, very nearly all are true.» — el resultado que Broad da de ese examen: de la masa grande de enunciados concretos comprobables, casi todos son verdaderos.

«And, when a mistake in detail is made (as in Script 5, where the name ‘Mrs. Wills’ is given instead of ‘Mrs. Willett’, or in Script 17, where it is stated that George C. T. was at school at Eton), it is nearly always corrected in a later script.» — y consigna el error junto con el acierto: da los dos casos por su número de script, un nombre mal dado y un colegio equivocado, y añade que casi siempre se enmiendan en un script posterior.

«I should think that no reader could fail to get the impression of an ex¬ tremely definite personality, with a rather unusual combination of characteristics.» — la respuesta de Broad a su primera pregunta sobre la forma: ningún lector dejaría de recibir la impresión de una personalidad definidísima, con una combinación de rasgos poco usual.

«In one aspect, she is a typical Victorian grande dame, who treats even her ‘unseen guests’ as she was wont to treat ordinary mortals in her capacity of hostess; who likes to play her part in public life, and does so very efficiently; and whose political interests are rather surprisingly radical for a» — y desgrana esos rasgos: por un lado la gran dama victoriana que trata a sus huéspedes invisibles como a los mortales que recibía, eficaz en la vida pública y de intereses políticos sorprendentemente radicales para su tiempo; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«In yet another aspect, she is a mystic, possessed of psychic gifts which she has for long been concerned to conceal, living in two worlds.» — y el último de esos rasgos: mística con dones psíquicos que se preocupó largo tiempo por ocultar, viviendo en dos mundos.

«it is for those who knew Mrs. Coombe Tennant intimately, and, in par¬ ticular, for her surviving sons, to decide whether the very marked personality which emerges in the scripts is that of the individual who is ostensibly communicating through G.C.» — Broad se abstiene de la segunda pregunta y dice a quién toca: a quienes la trataron de cerca y en particular a los hijos, decidir si la personalidad de los scripts es la de quien ostensiblemente comunica.

«All that I can usefully say is that it seems to me, as a largely but not wholly ignorant external observer, to fit like a glove.» — y lo único que se permite decir desde fuera, con la acotación de observador externo en buena parte ignorante, es que le calza como un guante.

«the next question that arises is this: What is the least unplausible way of accounting for the production of such scripts by a person whose normal sources of information were those available to Miss Geraldine Cummins at the times when her hand automatically wrote them?» — la pregunta que Broad se pone y que ordena el resto de su texto, formulada por lo menos inverosímil y no por lo verdadero: cuál es la manera menos inverosímil de dar cuenta de esos scripts a partir de las fuentes normales de que la automatista disponía.

«We may classify conceivable explanations of such cases as follows: (1) Those which presuppose nothing but normal sources of information and nothing but normal and generally recognized powers of cognition, selection, and dramatization in the automatist. (Those normal powers may be supposed to be present to an abnormal degree, as, e.g., in the case of a calculating prodigy, a literary or dramatic genius, and so on. And they may be supposed to exhibit themselves only when the automatist is in the peculiar dissociated state in which she produces her automa¬ tic utterances, and not at all in her everyday life.» — la primera de las tres clases de explicación que Broad distingue: la que no supone más que fuentes normales y poderes normales de cognición, selección y dramatización, aunque en grado anormal y quizá solo en el estado disociado.

«(2) Those which presuppose in the automatist certain paranormal powers of cognition and selection, not generally admitted by contem¬ porary scientists, applied only to existing records and to persons still alive in the flesh.» — la segunda clase: poderes paranormales de cognición y selección, no admitidos por la ciencia contemporánea, aplicados solo a registros existentes y a personas todavía vivas.

«(ii) The alleged power of becoming clairvoyantly aware of physical things, events, and state of affairs (and, in particular, of written records) without the use of senseperception, and without telepathic awareness of the normal knowledge of those objects possessed by someone still alive in the flesh.» — y el segundo, la clarividencia, definida como saber de cosas, sucesos y registros escritos sin percepción sensorial y sin telepatía de quien los conozca.

«Corresponding to any statement that can be verified at a given moment, there must then exist on earth either some relevant accessible record or some living person who has a relevant recollection.» — la perogrullada, así la llama él, de la que Broad parte: a todo enunciado verificable corresponde en la tierra o un registro accesible o una persona viva que lo recuerde.

«What has to be explained is the occurrence, in a particular script produced under specified circumstances, of a certain set of highly specific and closely interconnected items, corresponding to a certain very small selection from all this immense mass of mainly irrelevant documentary or mnemonic material.» — y con eso fija lo que hay que explicar: no el saber en general, sino que en un script dado y en circunstancias dadas aparezca un conjunto muy específico y trabado de datos, seleccionado de una masa inmensa de material mayormente irrelevante.

«I do not see how we can explain, without postulating something paranormal, the amount and kind of detailed and correct information, highly rele¬ vant to Mrs. Coombe Tennant, that had already emerged by the end of the sixth script.» — el primer resultado del examen: aun concediendo a la automatista poderes inmensos de criptomnesia o el rebusque deliberado y deshonesto en registros publicados, Broad no ve cómo explicar sin postular algo paranormal la cantidad y la clase de información correcta ya aparecida al cabo del sexto script.

«If that be granted, I would next maintain that access, whether by normal or by paranormal means, to printed records, does not suffice.» — y el segundo: concedido lo anterior, sostiene que el acceso a los registros impresos, por vía normal o paranormal, no basta.

«Examples would be: (i) the alleged power of becoming telepathic ally aware of facts known, of beliefs held,» — y el primer ejemplo de esa clase, la telepatía, definida como saber de hechos conocidos y de creencias sostenidas por otros; el troceo parte telepathically en dos palabras y el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«(3) Those which (without necessarily excluding the acquirement of information by paranormal means from persons still in the flesh and/or from existing records) presuppose the» — la tercera clase de explicación, que no excluye las anteriores pero añade algo: la intervención de alguna persona no viva hoy en la tierra; el tramo se corta donde el troceo reemite la plana.

«But no printed source existing at the time contained anything about Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s sister-in-law Eveleen’s peculiarities; about F. W. H. Myers’s matrimonial difficulties with her; and about her putting their son Leopold, with tragic results, against his father.» — la negativa con que Broad ataca la hipótesis del registro impreso: nada publicado entonces traía las peculiaridades de la cuñada, las dificultades matrimoniales de Myers con ella ni el que pusiera al hijo contra el padre.

«Yet all this is explicitly referred to in Script 6, and it is a frequently recurring theme in later scripts.» — y lo que se le opone: todo eso aparece de manera explícita ya en el sexto script y vuelve una y otra vez en los siguientes.

«But some or all of them might conceivably have come to the automatist, either by the normal way of indiscreet chatter or in a paranormal telepathic way, from one or another of the very few persons then in the flesh who had the relevant knowledge or beliefs.» — Broad deja abierta la salida que él mismo va a examinar: que eso llegara a la automatista por charla indiscreta o por vía telepática desde las muy pocas personas vivas que lo sabían.

«In view of the fact that G.C. did not meet Henry until late in 1959 or Alexander until early in 1960, and that neither of them would be in the least inclined to chatter about intimate personal or family affairs, I think it quite inconceivable that this part of the content of the scripts can have come in a normal way from either of them.» — y la cierra por el lado normal con dos razones, la fecha de los primeros encuentros y el carácter de los dos hombres: tiene por inconcebible que esa parte del contenido llegara por vía normal desde ellos.

«One is the fact that Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s eldest son is referred to throughout the book as ‘Christopher’ or ‘Cruff’, and never as ‘George’; whilst, in the scripts, where he is unmistakably referred to from the very first, he is always called ‘George’, and not ‘Christopher’. (This seems to me an extremely odd circumstance, on any view of the case.» — el primero de los dos hechos que Broad opone a que ese libro fuera fuente: el hijo mayor se llama allí de dos maneras y nunca por el nombre con que los scripts lo llaman desde el principio, circunstancia que él mismo califica de rarísima, se tome el caso como se tome.

«The other relevant fact is that the life and death of Daphne are a very prominent feature in the book Christopher-, whilst Daphne is not mentioned in the scripts until Script 10, though it is true that she plays a fairly important part later, e.g., in Script 19.» — y el segundo: la hija muerta es figura prominente en ese libro y no aparece en los scripts hasta el décimo, aunque después pese.

«It seems to me, then, that we shall need to postulate telepathy with persons still in the flesh, and not merely clairvoyance of existing records, if we are to attempt to explain the facts of the» — la conclusión parcial de Broad: para intentar la segunda alternativa hará falta postular telepatía con vivos y no solo clarividencia de registros; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«So far as concerns the factual content of the scripts, it seems to me that most, though not perhaps all of it, would have been within the knowledge or belief of either Mr. Salter or Henry.» — Broad concede lo que más favorece a la hipótesis telepática: casi todo el contenido fáctico de los scripts, aunque quizá no todo, estaba en el saber o en las creencias de uno de los dos hombres.

«We might suppose that this would serve to establish some kind of telepathic ‘rapport’ between a certain sub-conscious layer of G.C.’s mind, on the one hand, and the memory-traces of W.H.S. and/or of Henry concerning Mrs. Coombe Tennant, on the other.» — y arma la hipótesis con sus propias palabras: un rapport telepático entre cierta capa subconsciente de la mente de la automatista y las huellas de memoria de los dos hombres.

«And we might suppose that this telepathic ‘rapport’ was activated, and that actual telepathic ‘leakage’ of relevant data took place, on each occasion when G.C. held a sitting with the thought of W.H.S. and his client ‘Major Tennant’ explicitly before her mind.» — y la completa con el disparador: que ese rapport se activara y hubiera filtración telepática de datos cada vez que la automatista se sentaba con el pensamiento puesto en el investigador y en su cliente.

«If we are prepared to swallow the possibility of clairvoyance, in addition to telepathy, we might suppose further, that the tele¬ pathic ‘rapport’ between G.C., on the one hand, and W.H.S. and Henry, on the other, in some way focussed G.C.’s clairvoyant attention on certain printed records containing details relevant to Mrs. Coombe Tennant which were outside their own range of knowledge or belief.» — y el añadido que haría falta para lo que ni ellos sabían: que ese mismo rapport enfocara la atención clarividente de la automatista sobre ciertos registros impresos.

«I think it is true to say that there is very little independent evidence for telepathy between persons still in the flesh on any¬ thing like the scale that would be required to explain the present» — la objeción de Broad a su propia hipótesis: hay muy poca evidencia independiente de telepatía entre vivos en la escala que el caso exigiría; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«And I am quite sure that there is practically no independent evidence for clairvoyant access to the contents of printed records by persons still in the flesh.» — y la segunda mitad de la objeción, más fuerte todavía: que no hay prácticamente evidencia independiente de acceso clarividente al contenido de registros impresos.

«We should still have to explain how the information, obtained telepathically from those still in the flesh or clairvoyantly from existing records, issues in a dramatic form so characteristic of a certain deceased person, whom the automatist has never met.» — la dificultad que Broad pone por encima de las dos anteriores: aun concedidas, quedaría por explicar cómo esa información sale en una forma dramática tan característica de una muerta a quien la automatista nunca trató.

«For that purpose it would be necessary to ascribe to some sub¬ conscious level of the automatist the literary gifts of a novelist or a playwright.» — lo primero que habría que suponer para eso: dotes literarias de novelista o de dramaturgo en algún nivel subconsciente de la automatista.

«But that would not be sufficient. It would be necessary also to ascribe to some subconscious level of one or more persons still in the flesh, who had known the ostensible communicator, the power of telepathically influencing the auto¬ matisms subconscious creative gift so as to imitate the style of the particular deceased person in question.» — y lo segundo, que es lo que Broad tiene por insostenible: que algún nivel subconsciente de los vivos que conocieron a la comunicadora tuviera además el poder de dirigir telepáticamente ese don creador para imitar su estilo.

«But, so far as I am aware, there is little or no independent evidence for the existence, in ordinary persons alive in the flesh, of the power of subconsciously and telepath¬ ically directing the exercise of those gifts of creation and drama¬» — y niega la otra mitad: que apenas hay evidencia de que personas vivas corrientes puedan dirigir subconsciente y telepáticamente el ejercicio de esos dones; el tramo se corta en el guion de renglón de dramatization.

«Obviously much the simplest and most plausible hypothesis prima facie is that Mrs. Coombe Tennant, or some part or some aspect of her, survived the death of her body on August 31, 1956; that she was still actively in existence at least as late as March 6, 1960; and that during that period she from time to time controlled, directly or indirectly, the pen of the automatist G.C.» — la hipótesis que Broad llama a primera vista la más simple y plausible, enunciada con todas sus fechas y con la cautela de un o alguna parte o algún aspecto de ella: que la comunicadora sobrevivió a la muerte de su cuerpo y controló de tanto en tanto la pluma de la automatista.

«It is only because of this that so many of the few who are aware of the kind of facts of which the present case is such a striking instance, and who are prepared honestly to face them, have recourse to the fantastic hypothesis, involving telepathy and clairvoyance on the part of those still in the flesh, which I have described in discussing the second alternative type of explanation.» — y de ahí saca Broad su explicación de por qué se prefiere la otra vía: solo por esa improbabilidad previa recurren los pocos que encaran los hechos a lo que él llama la hipótesis fantástica de la telepatía y la clarividencia.

«On that hypothesis, they come from someone who might reasonably be expected, in view of her experiences on earth as ‘Mrs. Willett’, to ‘know the ropes’ very much better than the average surviving spirit, in regard to communicating through a medium.» — la consecuencia que Broad saca de esa hipótesis para este caso en particular: los scripts vendrían de quien, por su experiencia terrena como médium, cabría esperar que supiera moverse en el oficio mucho mejor que un espíritu sobreviviente medio.

«On the same hypothesis, we can regard the untestable parts of the con¬ tent of the scripts as ‘travellers’ tales’.» — y el estatuto que da a lo no comprobable: relatos de viajero, que es como los va a tratar tentativamente.

«Since we shall all die, and since some at least of us may possibly survive bodily death, it is of some interest to have what purports to be first-hand information about what to expect on that occasion.» — la razón por la que se ocupa de esos relatos: que todos moriremos y que alguno al menos puede sobrevivir, de modo que tiene interés lo que se presenta como información de primera mano sobre qué esperar.

«We have accounts in the scripts of two very dif¬ ferent kinds of death, viz., that of Mrs. Coombe Tennant herself in very old age and after a long period of bodily weakness, and that of Helen Salter, who died suddenly in her sleep when still active and vigorous in body and mind.» — y los dos casos que los scripts traen, opuestos entre sí: una muerte en vejez muy avanzada tras larga debilidad y otra súbita en el sueño, con cuerpo y mente todavía activos.

«The communicator W. describes the scene, which she claims to have witnessed, and an ostensibly independent account is given by an ‘intruding’ communicator, who claims to have been one of the two main actors in it, and who is described in a way which obviously and strikingly fits Helen S.’s father, A.W.V., when alive in the flesh.» — el rasgo que Broad subraya del segundo caso: la comunicadora describe la escena que dice haber presenciado y un comunicador entrometido da un relato ostensiblemente independiente de ella, con rasgos que calzan de manera llamativa con el padre de la muerta.

«It may be remarked that this agrees, so far as it goes, with statements made by Swedenborg, on the alleged basis of his own personal observation as a ‘visitor’ to the next world.» — Broad pone al lado la coincidencia con Swedenborg, que decía observarlo como visitante del otro mundo.

«But it should be added that Swedenborg insists on the largely delusive character of the ostensible reunions with relatives and friends, which play so important a part at this early stage.» — y añade en el mismo párrafo lo que no coincide: que Swedenborg insiste en el carácter mayormente ilusorio de esos reencuentros con parientes y amigos.

«I find W.’s statements in Script 19, about her devastatingly disappointing meeting with Daphne, very moving and very true to what might reasonably be expected to happen if people survive bodily death.» — el juicio de Broad sobre el pasaje del encuentro decepcionante con la hija muerta: lo halla conmovedor y verdadero respecto de lo que cabría esperar si la gente sobrevive a la muerte del cuerpo.

«But the daughter must presumably have gone through some process analogous to ‘growing-up’, and must have acquired her own interests and formed her own affections.» — y la razón que da: que la hija habrá pasado por algo análogo a crecer y habrá hecho intereses y afectos propios.

«The unreasonable expectations of the mother, the chilly reactions of the daughter, and the consequent feeling of emotional frustration, are, it seems to me, precisely what an impartial observer might have foreseen.» — de donde Broad concluye que la decepción era previsible para un observador imparcial, y no una tacha del material.

«If there be an after-world, the scripts must present an ex¬ tremely narrow and peculiar corner of it. All the persons whom we meet in them are particularly cultured and intelligent mem¬ bers of the English upper or upper-middle classes, whose earthly lives were lived in a certain brief period of English history.» — la objeción de clase que Broad le pone al material: si hay otro mundo, estos scripts muestran un rincón estrechísimo de él, poblado por personas cultas de las clases altas inglesas de un periodo breve.

«It is platitudinous, but not superfluous, to point out that most human beings are not Victorian English ladies and gentlemen, and that a good many of them are savages.» — y la generaliza en los términos de su época: que la mayoría de los seres humanos no son damas y caballeros victorianos ingleses.

«intervention of some person or persons not at present alive on earth. This would, in theory, cover the two alternatives of inter¬ vention (i) by some human being who has survived bodily death, and (ii) by some non-human person.» — y ahí sigue la frase, con las dos variantes que Broad distingue dentro de esa tercera clase: un ser humano que haya sobrevivido a la muerte corporal, o una persona no humana; el ancla aparece dos veces en el troceo y se ancla en la primera.

«On the other hand, it seems to most contemporary Westerners antecedently improbable, to the point of practical inconceivability, that a person should con¬ tinue to exist and to function after the death and disintegration» — y lo que se le opone, que Broad atribuye a una época y no a un argumento: que a la mayoría de los occidentales contemporáneos les parece improbable hasta lo prácticamente inconcebible que alguien siga existiendo y funcionando tras la muerte del cuerpo; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«In both cases it is claimed that death is followed by a longish» — lo que los scripts sostienen de los dos casos, en la frase que el troceo corta al reemitir la plana: a la muerte sigue un periodo largo.

«dream-like period of rest and recuperation, under the supervision of near relatives of the deceased. An essential feature of this is alleged to be a vivid hallucinatory re-living of the whole course of one’s earthly life.» — y ahí sigue: reposo y recuperación de aire onírico bajo la supervisión de parientes cercanos, con una revivencia alucinatoria y vívida de todo el curso de la vida terrena como rasgo esencial.

«edly, some independent evidence for the existence, in some few persons, of remarkable creative and dramatizing powers, which reveal themselves only when their possessor is in a dissociated state.» — Broad concede la mitad que sí tiene apoyo: hay alguna evidencia independiente de poderes creadores y dramatizadores notables en unas pocas personas, que solo se muestran en estado disociado; el tramo arranca tras el guion U+00AC que parte undoubtedly.

«If all or most human beings survive the death of their bodies, there must presumably be, among the many mansions of their Father’s house, places pre¬ pared for such as these. And they must be very unlike those gentlemanly and academic English apartments to which alone the scripts introduce us.» — Broad lleva su objeción de clase hasta el final: si sobrevive la mayoría, habrá que suponer en la casa del Padre sitios preparados para gente muy distinta de la que puebla estos scripts, y muy distintos de esos aposentos ingleses caballerosos y académicos.

«Closely connected with this is the fact that so little pain and unhappiness, and so little passive selfishness, active cruelty, and sheer incompatibility of temperament, are depicted in the scripts. These play a very large part in our earthly life, and it seems to me quite incredible that the mere incident of dying and surviving bodily death should automatically cure them.» — la segunda objeción de Broad al contenido: en los scripts hay muy poco dolor, muy poca crueldad y muy poca incompatibilidad de carácter, y le parece increíble que el mero incidente de morir cure eso.

«Indeed, survival might be expected often to re-open emotional wounds which had been temporarily healed by the death of one or more of the parties concerned.» — y le da la vuelta al argumento: cabría esperar que la supervivencia reabriera heridas que la muerte de alguna de las partes había cerrado por un tiempo.

«It is fair to say that there is, in Script 6, a glimpse of these less cheerful aspects of life, in the account of the sufferings which Leo Myers has brought on himself, of his hostile and reproachful reception of his mother Eveleen, of the latter’s sorrowful realization of the evils which her possessive¬ ness has wrought on one whom she loved, and of her resolute attempts to make amends.» — Broad consigna en contra de sí mismo lo que el sexto script sí trae de esos aspectos menos alegres: el sufrimiento del hijo de Myers, su recibimiento hostil a la madre, la conciencia dolorida de ella y sus intentos resueltos de reparar.

«So far, so bad; but I should suspect that even if there should be no predominantly evil non-human inhabitants of the astral world, enough of those human beings who have made hells on earth would be likely, if they survive, to make new hells in the after-life.» — y la sospecha con que lo remata: que aun sin habitantes no humanos predominantemente malos, bastantes de los que hicieron infiernos en la tierra harían otros allá.

«In all this, it seems to me, Swedenborg’s account is much more plausible than the some¬ what rose-tinted picture painted in the scripts.» — y la comparación con que cierra su balance: en todo esto le parece más plausible el relato de Swedenborg que el cuadro algo rosado de los scripts.

«With these comments I invite readers to study carefully for themselves the scripts and the notes on them, and to draw their own conclusions as to what is, rather literally, a ‘question of life or death.’» — Broad despide su texto devolviendo el juicio al lector y nombrando lo que está en juego, con la ironía de un casi literalmente.

«The present book contains an attempt to answer that question by evidence obtained through mediumship of an unusually subtle kind.» — y así declara Toksvig lo que el libro es: un intento de responder esa pregunta por evidencia obtenida mediante una mediumnidad que llama de una sutileza poco común.

«He continued to acquire much of his information from the ‘other world’ by means of what we now call ‘automatic writing’, a technical term for it, though ‘transmitted’ would be better, since it is far from being as mechanical as ‘automatic’ implies.» — la enmienda de vocabulario que Toksvig propone y que este volumen adopta en su portada: prefiere transmitted a automatic porque el segundo término sugiere más mecanismo del que hay.

«The process is simple. Certain people can sit down before a blank sheet of paper, pencil in hand, and, after an interval, the hand, seemingly of its own volition and often at high speed, may write communications that claim to come from the spirits of the dead.» — la descripción del procedimiento, en las palabras de la editora: sentarse ante una hoja en blanco con un lápiz y, tras un intervalo, la mano escribe al parecer por voluntad propia y a menudo a gran velocidad comunicaciones que dicen venir de los espíritus de los muertos.

«Usually the result is far from inspiring, but a few such mediums have produced results impossible to attribute to their own store of knowledge.» — y el límite que Toksvig pone en la misma frase: que de ordinario el resultado no inspira, y solo unos pocos médiums han producido resultados que no se dejen atribuir a su propio caudal de saber.

«But, unlike Swedenborg’s scripts on these topics, Miss Cummins’s present a vivid and coherent narrative, thrilling even to one like myself with a minimal interest in the subject matter.» — el juicio de Toksvig sobre los escritos anteriores de la automatista: relato vívido y coherente, que a ella misma, poco interesada en la materia, le resultó apasionante.

«Even to her normal interest and knowledge it was alien, yet, as mentioned, scholars have testified to the correctness of some of the obscure historical details.» — y el argumento que saca de ahí: que la materia era ajena al interés y al saber normales de la automatista, y que eruditos han dado por correctos algunos de sus detalles históricos oscuros.

«The six scripts received by Geraldine Cummins before she knew that the communicator and Mrs. Willett were identical had been, so she was assured by the experimenter, full of correct information about matters known to ‘the absent sitter’, who was the lady’s younger son, Henry.» — el dato de fecha que Toksvig subraya: los seis scripts anteriores al reconocimiento estaban llenos, según el experimentador, de información correcta sobre asuntos que sabía el asistente ausente.

«When she stopped the stream there were forty-four scripts.» — la cuenta que da Toksvig, cuarenta y cuatro scripts, que no cuadra con los cuarenta que el cuerpo numera; las dos cifras se consignan sin armonizar.

«Part of them are too correct about private affairs to be published, but enough are complete to make it inestimably worth while to study them from various points of view, even from that of considering that they go far to establish the survival of consciousness after death.» — y la razón por la que no están todos: parte es demasiado correcta sobre asuntos privados para publicarse, y de lo que queda dice Toksvig que vale el estudio hasta desde el punto de vista de dar por sentada la supervivencia de la consciencia tras la muerte.

«In one, although the medium is unacquainted with the deceased person, she is able to furnish a list of facts concerning him or her, even if the sitter or note-taker is equally unacquainted with the com¬ municator. These are called proxy sittings.» — Toksvig define la clase de sesión en que este caso consiste, y le da su nombre técnico: sesión por poder, con médium y asistente igualmente desconocedores del comunicador.

«You might think this would settle the matter, but it does not.» — Toksvig corta su propio argumento antes de que parezca concluyente, y con eso abre la objeción que sigue.

«Some theorists hold that 'extrasensory perception', or the ability to obtain information without the aid of the known senses, can, in the case of certain gifted individuals, extend both backwards and forwards in time, and everywhere on the earth in space. Therefore the accomplishments of a good medium need not involve the survival of consciousness after death, so goes the theory.» — la objeción, dicha con sus dueños: hay quien sostiene que la percepción extrasensorial de ciertos dotados se extiende hacia atrás y hacia adelante en el tiempo y por toda la tierra, de modo que lo que logra un buen médium no exigiría supervivencia alguna.

«There is at present no real evidence of such omniscience on the part of any medium, and the supposition is thorny with difficulties greater, it would seem, than the belief in survival, but theoretically it is possible.» — y la respuesta de Toksvig, que no cierra la puerta: no hay hoy evidencia real de esa omnisciencia y la suposición le parece más espinosa que la creencia en la supervivencia, pero en teoría es posible.

«This is pertinent to the Cummins-Willett scripts, because some of Mrs. Willett’s communications deal indubitably with the same subject matters as those dealt with in the Balfour Study, sometimes in nearly the same words.» — por qué eso toca a este caso: algunas comunicaciones tratan indudablemente las mismas materias que el estudio de Balfour, a veces casi con las mismas palabras.

«Miss Cummins has not read the Balfour Study, she has only read fragments from it, quoted in two other books (see page 4) which are far from covering the subjects in her own Willett scripts, but the possibility of subconscious extrasensory perception of the Balfour Study is there.» — y Toksvig consigna a la vez la negativa y el hueco que deja: la automatista no ha leído ese estudio, solo fragmentos citados en otros dos libros, pero la posibilidad de percepción extrasensorial subconsciente del estudio queda en pie.

«The deceased who is alleged to direct the pen or pencil may be entirely unknown to the medium,» — el criterio que Toksvig da por bueno, en la frase que el troceo corta al cambiar de plana: que el muerto a quien se atribuye dirigir el lápiz sea del todo desconocido para el médium.

«yet may identify himself so vividly that the personality can be recognized without any doubt by living relatives or friends.» — y ahí sigue: que aun así se identifique con tal viveza que parientes o amigos vivos reconozcan la personalidad sin duda alguna.

«et she did not do it in the words of the learned Balfour Study; she put the ideas in her own easy style, that of an unpedantic woman of the world.» — el argumento de estilo con que Toksvig separa los scripts de su fuente sospechada: las ideas salen en un estilo fácil y sin pedantería, no en el del estudio erudito; el troceo se come la Y de Yet.

«Still more important, she sometimes introduced descriptions of scenes and events which were not made available to the public till ‘The Palm Sunday Case’ came out two years later.» — y el argumento de fecha, que Toksvig tiene por más importante: escenas y sucesos que no se hicieron públicos hasta dos años después.

«Did Miss Cummins’s subconscious perception roam around till she found and put together various unpublished manuscripts? Or did the same omniscience find these facts in the minds of those few people still living who knew them, and arranged the material for publication?» — Toksvig se pone a sí misma las dos preguntas que quedarían abiertas si se acepta la percepción subconsciente: si anduvo rondando manuscritos inéditos, o si halló los hechos en las mentes de los pocos vivos que los sabían.

«Possibly, but unlikely. Miss Cummins has done badly in telepathy tests of the quantitative kind.» — y su respuesta, que concede lo posible y niega lo probable, con un dato en contra de la propia automatista: le ha ido mal en las pruebas cuantitativas de telepatía.

«Out of the question is the supposition that she consciously hunted about in reference books for the facts or played the detective secretly in getting them from living people who might have known Mrs. Willett. That lady’s anonymity was exceptionally well guarded, and Geraldine Cummins’s utter sincerity is guaranteed by all who know her.» — la hipótesis que Toksvig descarta del todo, la del rebusque consciente o el trabajo de detective, con dos razones: el sigilo con que se guardó el anonimato y la sinceridad que le garantizan quienes conocen a la automatista.

«Even so, admitting this, the anxious doubter might say, she could have learned facts referring to Mrs. Willett and forgotten them, her subconscious then bringing them to the surface later on in the guise of communications from the ‘living dead'.» — la objeción que Toksvig se plantea y que ninguna de las dos anteriores toca: la criptomnesia, hechos aprendidos y olvidados que el subconsciente devolvería después disfrazados de comunicaciones.

«So Protean and precognitive a subconscious is slippery to deal with, but, as has been mentioned, an attempt will be made in the Notes.» — y lo que hace con ella: la declara escurridiza y remite el examen a las notas de cada script, que es la función del aparato.

«There is, however, another form of mediumship, which offers convincing proof of identity, especially when combined with verifiable statements.» — Toksvig introduce la otra clase de prueba en que descansa el libro: la que ofrece prueba de identidad y no solo de información, sobre todo unida a enunciados verificables.

«Through her mediumship the personal¬ ities of her communicators emerged freshly and clearly.» — lo que atribuye a la mediumnidad de la comunicadora en vida: que las personalidades de sus comunicadores salían frescas y claras.

«Various published scripts by Miss Cummins demonstrate that she too is a channel that can convey the wholeness of a personality, as well as facts unknown to her that are often startingly verified.» — y lo que atribuye a la de la automatista: canal capaz de transmitir la entereza de una personalidad además de hechos que ella no sabía; el troceo imprime startingly por startlingly.

«Nowhere is this better shown than in the Cummins-Willett scripts, perhaps partly for the reason (one is permitted to speculate) that here a medium is communicating» — y la especulación que Toksvig marca como tal: que en este caso lo hace mejor que en ningún otro porque quien comunica es a su vez una médium; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«through another medium, each of them aware of the difficulties of the task. Note, for instance, the ingenious way in which Mrs. Willett manages to transmit proper names of people and places, one of the worst hurdles of mediumship.» — y ahí acaba la frase, con el ejemplo concreto que Toksvig propone mirar: cómo la comunicadora se las arregla para transmitir nombres propios, que ella llama de los peores obstáculos del oficio.

«The objection might finally be raised that Geraldine Cummins is an author in her own right, quite apart from her 'transmitted' writing, so why could she not simply be continuing this creativity in her subconscious mind, then in perfect good faith dubbing it ‘transmitted’ when it comes to the surface?» — la última objeción que Toksvig se plantea, y la más incómoda para el libro: que la automatista es escritora por derecho propio y podría estar continuando esa creatividad en su subconsciente y llamándola transmitida de buena fe.

«This objection certainly has to be taken into account, but I do not think it is valid. Her novels and plays date back to her youth. Since then she has, most unselfishly and unremuneratively, dedicated herself to psychic research with the best of all guinea pigs, herself. She might have developed into a genuinely creative conscious writer, but she did not give herself the chance.» — y su respuesta, con una razón de biografía: novelas y obras de teatro quedaron en la juventud, y desde entonces se dedicó a la investigación psíquica sin remuneración y con ella misma de conejillo de Indias.

«Some of her fiction makes it fairly obvious that she at least cannot draw credible characters if she is not dealing with those known to her in her native Ireland.» — el argumento de límite que Toksvig usa contra esa objeción: que en su ficción la automatista no logra personajes creíbles fuera de los que conoce en Irlanda.

«Yet in her transmitted writings one can discover some fortyodd personalities, differing markedly and convincingly from each other and from the people known to her.» — y lo que opone: en los escritos transmitidos se distinguen unas cuarenta personalidades, marcadamente distintas entre sí y de la gente que ella trata.

«a figure steps forward, completely unlike Miss Cummins or any of her compatriots, a lady who, one feels, is almost aggressively selfdrawn.» — la figura que Toksvig dice ver salir de estos scripts, dibujada por sí misma con algo de agresividad; span une selfdrawn donde el impreso parte self-drawn al final del renglón.

«In fact she sometimes patronizes the ‘little reporter’ as she calls G.C., with so unsparing personal comments that one refuses to believe the most humble subconscious capable of such abasement. But it is not done with any malice, it’s just the lady’s way.» — y el rasgo que Toksvig toma por prueba: que la voz trate con condescendencia a la automatista, a quien llama la pequeña reportera, con comentarios tan poco piadosos que no le parecen obra del subconsciente más humilde.

«Lapses from verisimilitude do occur now and then, as Mrs. Willett herself points out in no uncertain terms.» — Toksvig consigna el fallo junto con el acierto, y lo atribuye a quien lo señala dentro del propio material.

«She cannot, for instance, battle against strong currents of opinion in the medium’s mind. The Englishwoman is radical in her political point of view, the Irishwoman is Conservative, and hence, Mrs. Willett remarks, ‘patches are yours and patches are mine.’» — el ejemplo de ese fallo, con las palabras de la voz dentro: la inglesa es radical en política y la irlandesa conservadora, de donde salen retazos de una y de otra.

«Geraldine Cummins has many remarkable gifts, but I think few would consider that they include an ‘orderly magisterial habit of mind’.» — y el argumento que Toksvig saca de ese retrato, por contraste: que pocos atribuirían a la automatista el hábito mental ordenado y magistral que la carta describe.

«Re Salter experi¬ ment, by holding Salter’s first letter to me I got an alleged mother who wrote part of a name “Win”. Well, one script was written to her son, whose surname was sent me, the second script contained a direct message to Salter.» — de esa segunda carta: el procedimiento otra vez y lo obtenido, una madre alegada que escribió parte de un nombre, un script dirigido al hijo y otro con mensaje directo al investigador.

«Miss Cummins then adds, ‘I’m sure the script message is a failure.’ It can be seen that Miss Cummins is by no means an automatic believer in her automatic or transmitted scripts.» — Toksvig cierra con el juicio propio de la automatista sobre ese mensaje y saca de ahí lo que le importa: que ella no cree en sus escritos por oficio.

«‘Astor’: if one accepts the reality of spirits, ‘Astor’ is a sort of pen-name for this spirit, who acts as Miss Geraldine Cummins’s ‘control’, bringing the spirits who wish to communicate and sometimes interpreting for them. But ‘Mrs. Willett’ herself speaks in these scripts of that part of G.C.’s mind which calls itself ‘Astor’.» — y la entrada de esa orientación que deja el estatuto del control en suspenso, con las dos lecturas puestas una al lado de la otra: si se acepta la realidad de los espíritus, un nombre de pluma para el espíritu que trae a los demás; y a la vez, dentro de los propios scripts, la comunicadora habla de esa parte de la mente de la automatista que se llama a sí misma así.

«arrived here [jher home in Glanmire, Co. Cork, Ireland^ letter and name of a Major in the army was awaiting me. The name meant nothing to me. But I realized I must tackle the job the next day. Otherwise these critical people would say I spent time making in¬ quiries about this blasted major. Any leisure I had from household affairs, I expended on the task for the next two days. Astor [the “control’’^) strove in vain to get the mother from this very ordinary name, then suggested my holding Salter’s letter, which might give directive to mother, as he might have known the deceased mother. It worked in the sense that I then got two rather odd scripts, one quite dramatic. Either they’re pure invention or there’s something that hit the target as the statements were very definite—a kind of story with names. And I don’t care if it’s all wrong. It seemed to me an impossible task.’» — y ahí sigue esa carta, releída entera en el crudo por su largo: el nombre que no le decía nada, la prisa por no parecer que hacía averiguaciones, el recurso de sostener la carta del investigador, y el juicio de la propia automatista de que aquello es pura invención o algo que dio en el blanco.

«Owing to my capacity for object reading, I preferred to try without the specimens of the mother’s handwriting, and the first three scripts were obtained by me without them.» — la decisión de la automatista sobre ese material, dicha por ella en primera persona: prefirió probar sin las muestras de letra, por su propia capacidad de lectura de objetos, y los tres primeros scripts salieron sin ellas.

«I once stayed one night in Wales in a house about two miles from Swansea with a stranger to me, a lady very interested in my Cleophas Scripts, because of their value to her in their early Christian history. So our conversation was about this series of books.» — la automatista mide su propio contacto con el país de la comunicadora, que es el modo en que ella misma prueba sus scripts: una sola noche en Gales, en casa de una desconocida, y una conversación sobre sus propios libros anteriores.

«Otherwise my acquaintanceship with Wales consisted solely in my seeing it through a railway carriage window during my numerous journeys in a fast train between Fishguard and Paddington in the early morning or late evening. Since 1921, with the exception of the war years, I have travelled thus about twice a year between London and my home in Co. Cork.» — y el resto de ese contacto, reducido a la ventanilla del tren dos veces al año.

«Fortunately for this experiment Mrs. Willett and her family had no connection with Southern Ireland. Equally I was in the same position as regards Wales.» — la automatista declara la simetría que a su juicio hace limpio el experimento: la familia de la comunicadora nada tenía que ver con el sur de Irlanda, y ella nada con Gales.

«It is true that for a number of years my uncle Professor Lyle Cummins was attached to Cardiff University and directed a fine crusade against tubercu¬ losis in Wales. But he was a very over-occupied man, so our paths did not cross each other’s except for one day in the nineteen-twenties, when he eloquently tried to persuade me wholly to abandon psychical research for my literary work.» — y la excepción que ella misma se pone y no oculta: un tío suyo trabajó años en Cardiff, aunque sus caminos, dice, no se cruzaron salvo el día en que él quiso persuadirla de dejar la investigación psíquica por la literatura; el troceo corta tuberculosis con el guion U+00AC.

«In script 5 Winifred (Mrs. Willett) wrote of her psychic work and of Gerald and his wife Betty. These two names re¬ called to me that I and my friend Miss Gibbes at the request of Dame Edith Lyttelton had gone to Woking one day in June, 1939, where I gave Lord Balfour and his wife Lady Betty a sitting.» — la automatista cuenta cómo dos nombres del quinto script le trajeron a la memoria la única sesión que dio a esa familia en 1939, que es su único contacto anterior con el círculo del caso.

«my communicator Winifred (Mrs. Willett) described her early sittings and wrote ‘I insisted on being called Mrs.» — del quinto script, en la voz que el libro llama la comunicadora: describe sus primeras sesiones y dice haber insistido en que la llamaran por un nombre; el tramo se corta antes del apellido.

«When staying in Bantry in August, 1957, with my friend Mrs. Smyth, I had seen a good deal of her friend, Mrs. Wills. Again in script 5, Winifred wrote, ‘I am Mrs. Wills. That is not quite right. Never mind Wills, press on . .» — y la automatista pone al lado, sin resolverlo, lo que podría contaminar ese acierto: que ella había tratado poco antes a una señora de ese mismo apellido, y que el propio script enmienda que no es del todo correcto y manda seguir.

«I began to realize that the surname of Mrs. Wills had obviously blocked the writing of Mrs. Willett’s name.» — la lectura que la automatista hace de ese error: que el apellido de la conocida le había bloqueado la escritura del de la comunicadora.

«The information conveyed to me in script 6, written at Woodville, Glanmire, on September 26, 1957, strengthened to a certainty my view that Mrs. Willett was Mrs. Tennant.» — y el momento en que ella se convence de la identidad, fechado por script y por lugar.

«I had fairly recently read about her psychic work in a chapter in G. N. M. Tyrrell’s book The Personality of Man, the only reading I’d done about it, besides a brief mention of it in H. F. Saltmarsh’s Evidence of Personal Survival from Cross-Correspondences.» — la automatista declara su propia lectura previa sobre el caso, acotada a dos libros y nombrados los dos, que es lo que Toksvig también consigna.

«This did not bring me any further information about the lady’s life, as her identity was still a close secret, known only to a few people with whom I was not acquainted.» — y el límite que le pone: nada de eso le daba noticia de la vida de la comunicadora, cuya identidad seguía siendo secreto de unos pocos a quienes ella no trataba.

«There have been experi¬ ments made when a fictitious surname of an alleged deceased person has been imparted to a medium, and it has led to the medium weaving a fictitious narrative about it. In a cynical mood, most unfairly I had suspected that Mr. Salter might be playing the same game.» — la sospecha que la automatista confiesa haber tenido y que consigna contra sí misma: que le estuvieran dando un apellido inventado, como en otros experimentos, para ver si tejía un relato falso.

«I did not then reckon for a moment that Mrs. Willett would command my time to the extent of some forty-four scripts during the next couple of years.» — la cuenta que da la automatista de lo que salió de esa prueba, unos cuarenta y cuatro scripts, la misma cifra que da la editora y distinta de los cuarenta que el cuerpo numera.

«It is to be noted that I did not meet either of Mrs. Willett’s two sons until after script 40 had been written on November 23, 1959.» — el dato de método que la automatista subraya y que es el argumento del libro: no conoció a ninguno de los dos hijos hasta después de escrito el script cuarenta; la fecha que da aquí, noviembre de 1959, no coincide con la de marzo de 1960 que el cuerpo imprime para ese script, y las dos se consignan.

«All the Cummins-Willett scripts were written when I was alone, and in most instances in the bright light of the early morning before I had met anybody.» — la circunstancia material de la escritura, dicha por la automatista: a solas y casi siempre a la luz clara de la mañana temprano, antes de ver a nadie.

«Nor does the theory that mediums obtain through telepathy from a presiding sitter the veridical communications given at a sitting need to be taken into consideration in any study of the Cummins-Willett scripts.» — y la consecuencia que ella saca de esa circunstancia: que la teoría de la telepatía desde un asistente presente no hace falta tomarla en cuenta aquí, porque no hubo asistente.

«Astor comes. What a task you set me. You ask me to find the mother of a Major Tennant, but I cannot pick up a wavelength from a name. Oh, very well! I will try. Wait for a little while and suspend all thought but the desire that I find this soul who you say has recently died. It is useless; I cannot pick up any line.» — así abre el primer script, en la voz que el libro llama el control: se queja de la tarea, dice que no puede tomar una longitud de onda a partir de un nombre y declara el primer intento inútil.

«But hold the letter of W.H. If he has any contact with the mother, even in correspondence, I may through his vibratory field link up with her. Put the letter to your forehead.» — y el recurso que esa misma voz propone, que es el que la automatista describe en su carta privada: sostener la carta del investigador para enlazar por su campo vibratorio.

«There is a lady who has come to me, not I to her. She decided she would look out for a light, (1). She understands that if she writes herself they won’t accept what she records, so she is showing me her memories and her mind.» — del primer script: la voz del control dice que una señora vino a él y no él a ella, que ella buscó una luz y que, sabiendo que no aceptarían lo que escribiera por sí misma, le muestra sus memorias y su mente.

«I see her as a very old woman in the eighties, very fragile. She lost a son when he was only a youth. He was killed when he was nineteen or twenty, I think. I see the memory of that agonizing news. It is like a scar on the mind. Well, she has found him again after many, many years, so it was not in the last war he was killed; the First World War, she says.» — el primer retrato que el script da de esa señora, con las precisiones y las dudas dentro: la edad, la fragilidad, el hijo muerto a los diecinueve o veinte años y la corrección de guerra que la propia voz introduce.

«three, which contained definite evidence of Mrs. Willett’s surviving memory, with some correct indications of her character could not be said to be aided by psychometry.» — el argumento que la automatista saca de haber prescindido de las muestras de letra: esos tres primeros scripts, con evidencia definida de la memoria sobreviviente de la comunicadora, no se pueden achacar a la psicometría; la frase viene cortada de la plana anterior.

«All the better, I reflected. If my story¬ telling subconscious invents a yarn of this kind the game will be» — la prueba que la automatista se puso a sí misma ante esa sospecha: que si su subconsciente narrador inventaba, el juego se acabaría pronto; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«One can’t have it both ways, by finding him I lost another very dear son. It is a middle-aged man, early forties. I think she is trying to show me his likeness. He was very good to her when she was old and ailing. She thinks now she may have been too possessive in her love for him. But there was some great bond between them.» — y ahí pasa el primer script a la primera persona de la señora: al hallar a uno perdió a otro, un hombre de poco más de cuarenta años que fue bueno con ella de vieja y con quien piensa que quizá fue demasiado posesiva.

«You ask for a name. I hear the sound Wyn or Win . . . can’t get more. Then there is someone still in the physical body. She shows me the name—hard to perceive— Henry, or is it Harry? I can’t get more. It is fading. Perhaps Win or Wyn was her name. I think it is hers, but I may be mistaken.» — del primer script, en voz del control: el nombre llega como sonido y a medias, y la voz consigna su propia duda en la misma frase.

«I think you had better call me tomorrow. You are tired. Tomorrow hold both of W.H.’s letters and perhaps I can get closer. It was very difficult, so faint today. I think Win or Wyn was too anxious. She was trying so hard to show me different memories, and I couldn’t perceive them» — y cómo cierra el primer script esa voz: pide reanudar al día siguiente con las dos cartas en la mano y achaca la dificultad a la ansiedad de la comunicadora.

«Astor is here. Yes, it is quite different this time. There was too much emotion on the last occasion. I see again the old lady, or rather her mind, and she shows me the letter W. That means it is one of her initials.» — abre el segundo script, en voz del control, con la inicial que la comunicadora muestra.

«I use the word lady in her connection in the old-fashioned sense of the word. She was sensitive, cultured, but not learned and had a high code of honour during her life¬ time, which extends back to the Victorian age. She grew up then, and the many conventions concerning girls in that period led her in part to have a fear or shrinking from the present age, in which the modern young woman so often observes no conven¬» — el retrato que esa voz hace de la comunicadora, con la acepción antigua de la palabra declarada, y el encogimiento ante una época que no guarda las convenciones en que ella creció.

«But she was and is most unusual in one respect, and it is the fundamental reason for a mood that led her at times to want to be alone, to shrink from close contact with other minds. This was because of her extraordinary gift for penetrating into the deeper levels of the mind. To put it crudely, she would and often did live in two worlds.» — el rasgo que el script da por fundamental y que es el del libro entero: un don extraordinario para penetrar en los niveles hondos de la mente, del que sale, dicho crudamente, el vivir en dos mundos.

«She tells me that when she was a child she began to get automatic writing. But she was doubtful about it and, being extremely sensitive, pursued the practice only occasionally when alone. Later on, years after she was married, the power greatly increased. She felt that she had better get advice about it, and she succeeded in obtaining wise guidance.» — y el relato de cómo empezó y creció ese don según el script: escritura automática de niña, practicada a solas y con dudas, y aumento del poder años después de casada, con consejo buscado.

«I will try and describe him. He is allowing me to look into his mind. He had in the past a capacity for close analysis, a metaphysical passion only perhaps to be found in a Scotsman. He was partly Scottish, I am sure. This was balanced by a steadiness, a shrewdness, inherited from ancestors on his mother's side. She was English, I think.» — del segundo script: el retrato de una segunda figura por sus rasgos de mente antes de dar nombre, con la pasión metafísica atribuida a la sangre escocesa y la sensatez a la materna.

«Now I am hearing your name— Geraldine. No, it is the masculine equivalent. Yes, I have it— Gerald. Gerald says, ‘I would like to show you my old disguise.’» — y cómo llega el nombre en el script: por el de la propia automatista y su equivalente masculino, con la frase del disfraz viejo que la voz nombrada dice.

«Now it rises up like the ghost of Samuel, when he appeared to the Witch of Endor. I see Gerald as he was in the last years of his life. He appears as a very old man: I would say he was on the verge of ninety» — la imagen con que el script presenta esa aparición, tomada de la evocación bíblica, y la edad que le atribuye.

«It pleases him to show me his exit from the stage of earthly life» — y la fórmula con que el script cierra ese retrato, la salida de escena, que anticipa la figura del teatro que vuelve en scripts posteriores.

«He draws from the shadows a young man. I see the name Francis. The young man’s mind is like his own, scholarly. But his life was cut short in some sport. There is an accident, a crash. He died from a fall, away in some foreign country.» — del segundo script: una tercera figura, con nombre, temperamento y una muerte por caída en país extranjero, que es el dato que después se coteja.

«It seems to concern papers, writing a memoir to be published, I think. She always blocked the publication when on earth. Gerald would have liked at least some of these reminiscences to be published. But she was a very determined lady, (7). She forbade it.» — el asunto que el script pone en boca de esa segunda voz: unos papeles y una memoria que la comunicadora había prohibido publicar en vida.

«He tells her that she has a morbid conscience. ‘Very well,’ she says, ‘as in Pilgrim s Progress the Pilgrim will drop that heavy burden. Oh, it was such a weight. I shall be brazen and wicked and shock.» — y cómo el script resuelve eso: el reproche de conciencia morbosa y la respuesta de ella con la figura del peregrino que suelta la carga.

«Dear W.H. I lift my ban entirely. That is to say, I trust you absolutely. You have a free hand. Publish what you like. We are all forgotten and were, in any case, as I see now, people of little moment during our passage through life. My memory is still rather in tatters, but I seem to recollect that I left restrictions as to what should be published. Scrap them.» — el mensaje breve que el segundo script atribuye a la comunicadora, levantando la prohibición y dando mano libre; la memoria propia se declara en jirones dentro del mismo mensaje.

«There comes to me from the earth such a feeling of oppression, of worrying, of anxiety, of fear of death, and all is derived from non-belief.» — y la razón que ese mensaje da para levantarla: que lo que le llega de la tierra es opresión, angustia y miedo a la muerte, y que todo ello viene de la incredulidad.

«Rationalists are irrational, and it makes such a confusion, creates so much fear, when death, that deliverer approaches.» — la fórmula con que ese mensaje nombra a sus adversarios y a la muerte, a la que llama libertadora.

«I get the names Fred and Win. No, she says, they are not the names of a man and a woman. Put these two names together and you will get mine—Fred win— she shakes her head. Yes, I see, it is Winifred.» — del tercer script, en voz del control: el nombre llega partido en dos que hay que juntar, que es el recurso con que el libro explica la dificultad de transmitir nombres.

«Dear G.C. Pray forgive my intrusion. I can only excuse myself by saying that I was, like you, an automatist during my past life.—Oh, a mere amateur. But it was an engrossing interest at one time. I was eager to investigate from this side, and now I perceive how very difficult it is for us poor souls to do so.» — el tercer script pasa a la voz de la comunicadora escribiendo directamente, y lo primero que dice es lo que la hermana de la automatista: que ella misma fue automatista en vida, aunque aficionada, y que ahora ve desde el otro lado lo difícil que es.

«Please tell W.H. that Mutual Selection, (3), is the explana¬ tion that solves the problem. The confusion in my first message through you was in a curious way due to my being in a sense compelled to select from your memories while you were selecting from mine.» — la explicación que el script da del fallo del primer mensaje y que el libro retoma como término técnico: una selección mutua, en que la comunicadora se ve compelida a escoger de las memorias de la automatista mientras esta escoge de las suyas.

«It was as if I dived into a very deep pool—a dark memory of yours. Your sorrow for a loss in battle of a Henry or Harry of yours. That old memory of yours stirred up what my friend G. here calls a repressed complex of mine.» — y la figura con que el script la describe: un salto a una poza honda, la memoria oscura de una pérdida de la automatista, que remueve lo que otra voz llama un complejo reprimido de la comunicadora.

«I see now how we can wander and get lost in the memories of the automatist when we so-called dead try to communicate. This kind of mutual selection is bound to be what my friend Gerald calls a “mixed grill”.» — la consecuencia general que el script saca de ese fallo, con las palabras que el libro después reutiliza: que los así llamados muertos pueden extraviarse en las memorias del automatista, y que la selección mutua da por fuerza una mezcolanza.

«But in the communication of the second message to W.H., whose letter is beside you, I meant what I said. I was clear and collected, as clear as if I was a magistrate sitting on the Bench giving his (Note: might be “her”) verdict. I was one, you know, who sat on that hard bench» — y el contraste que el mismo script traza, con el símil que introduce el dato que después se coteja: en el segundo mensaje estaba clara, como una magistrada en el estrado, y ella lo fue.

«Tell W.H. I can’t succeed from here. It gets so confused and I forget everything when I try. I only remember bits.’» — y cómo cierra el tercer script esa voz, declarando su propio fracaso y su memoria a retazos.

«This very determined soul Gerald has been conversing with me. He is the leader of a Group and wishes to seize this opportunity to use, he says, Winifred, as a kind of liaison officer (1) in several brief communications.» — del cuarto script, en voz del control: una de las voces se declara jefe de un grupo y propone usar a la comunicadora como oficial de enlace.

«I have suggested that today she tries to establish her¬ self by writing of her origins. On another occasion she can write or endeavour to write a personal message to her son.» — del cuarto script, en la voz que firma Gerald: el plan de trabajo que propone, primero afirmarse escribiendo de sus orígenes y después el mensaje personal al hijo.

«As in the case of very old people still in the physical body, those who have experienced the full span of life on earth when they come here recall most easily fragmentary memories of the distant past and fail to recollect near events.» — la regla que esa voz enuncia sobre la memoria de los recién llegados, calcada de la de los muy viejos: recuerdan con facilidad fragmentos del pasado lejano y fallan en lo cercano.

«we seem to swim in the sea of the automatist’s subliminal mind, and any strong current may sweep us away from the memory objectives we have in view, before we attempt to communicate.» — la figura con que esa voz describe la posición del comunicador, atribuyéndosela a la comunicadora: nadar en el mar de la mente subliminal de la automatista, donde cualquier corriente fuerte aparta de los objetivos de memoria fijados de antemano.

«So neither of us can guarantee what, if any, identification she may write today or any other day.» — y la reserva que esa misma voz pone por delante, dentro del script: que ninguno de los dos puede garantizar qué identificación saldrá, si alguna.

«Listen--please listen—Ah! the word leaps up to me. It is Morgan. Hold on to Morgan. Now there is a famous cricketer, W. G. Grace (3). Cut off Grace. It’s W.G. I want. If you add on W.G. to Morgan, you have a name that may not appear to make sense, but it does make sense to me.» — del cuarto script, en voz de la comunicadora: un nombre de lugar armado por partes, con un cricketer famoso de por medio, que es el mismo recurso de composición del nombre propio.

«I spent many happy years of my life loving, living in Morganwg. My mother too came from there (4). This has to do with origin of the species. My husband and [last three words between the lines] my species or race. The most important events in my life took place in Morganwg. I mean those that relate to origins, the birth of what we are, the mould of our creation as regards influences. I found my husband in Morganwg» — y lo que ese nombre de lugar significa en el script: los años felices, el origen de la madre, los sucesos que la voz llama de origen y el hallazgo del marido.

«But the soul is only gradually born into the body. It creeps in during those first seven years.» — del cuarto script, en voz de la comunicadora: la doctrina del nacimiento gradual del alma en el cuerpo a lo largo de los siete primeros años, dicha de paso al hablar de orígenes.

«It is different from England in many ways. The people who live in it are very independent. They are wilder in temperament and more imaginative than the English, perhaps less stable. It is the land they belong to that makes the difference.» — y el retrato que esa voz hace del país de adopción, con la diferencia atribuida a la tierra misma.

«But how can I grasp these many memories? They are like heavy showers of rain. You cannot separate the raindrops, pick them out one by one.» — la figura con que el script dice la dificultad de la memoria del comunicador: las memorias como chaparrones cuyas gotas no se pueden separar.

«No, Cad, No, now I am trying to get something Cadre, French for frame. No, please, listen. Cadre and O for Ox, put them together, Cadre Ox. It is not right. Do listen.» — del cuarto script: el nombre de la casa llega por composición, con una palabra francesa y el nombre de un animal, y la propia voz declara que lo que sale no está bien.

«was my husband s frame, frame of a photograph—my husbandto-be, Cadox, Cadox Lodge.» — y ahí se completa ese nombre en la plana siguiente, con el juego entre marco y fotografía que lo trae; el troceo imprime husband s sin apóstrofo.

«How crammed is one’s life with detail! How difficult to pick out from the mass what signifies in memory. Cadox Lodge presents all that mass to me.» — la queja de método que el script pone en boca de la comunicadora: una vida está atestada de detalle y cuesta sacar de la masa lo que significa en la memoria.

«But Swan rests on a black sea, a symbol, not a crest, connect it with Cadox Winifred.’» — la frase de la que sale el título del volumen, subrayada en el script y dicha como símbolo y no como blasón.

«Astor comes. I bring with me the lady with the darting mind. She tells me she is Mrs. Wills, and she smiles. She is prepared to write today, so I shall give her the pen» — abre el quinto script, en voz del control: presenta a la comunicadora con el apellido equivocado y le cede la pluma, que es como el libro marca el cambio de voz.

«But how ignorant, how foolish, when everything is life, rather relentless life sometimes. George, my son (3) is alive. Why brood about decay and death? Perishing, perishing, when it is all being recreated, reborn immediately.» — del quinto script, en voz de la comunicadora, a propósito del papel conmemorativo que se le pone delante: la objeción a pensar en muerte y decadencia donde, dice, todo se recrea y renace de inmediato.

«We shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Didn’t St. Paul say that? But we shall still be We I must add. I know that as an experience now.» — y la cita paulina que esa voz trae para decirlo, enmendada acto seguido con lo que ella añade de su parte, que se seguirá siendo quien se es.

«I am directed by a Group here—people who once lived at Cambridge, or were connected with it» — del quinto script: la voz declara estar dirigida por un grupo de gente que vivió en Cambridge o tuvo que ver con esa ciudad, que es la figura del grupo que organiza las comunicaciones.

«They say, give a general outline of yourself, origin, origins of species (5) first, then the significance of your life. Well, I must finish with my origins and write of sig— significance, then the—the epilogue.» — y el plan de trabajo que ese grupo le impone dentro del script: orígenes, significación y epílogo.

«Morganwg gave me power (6)—power to do this automatic writing, to listen, to pick up. It was a kind of recharging, if you know what I mean, then it was mostly elsewhere the power was used.» — lo que el script atribuye al lugar de origen: el poder mismo de la escritura automática, como una recarga que después se gastaba en otra parte.

«There is a succession of me’s throughout my life—psychic units all building up. The outward semblance, the personality varying, as each psychic unit acts its part upon the stage, then passes on. But behind it is one’s real self, fundamental, greater than its personality.» — la doctrina del yo que el script enuncia y que Broad recoge en su resumen: una sucesión de yoes, unidades psíquicas que actúan su parte en el escenario, y detrás un yo real permanente mayor que la personalidad.

«This small child Winifred whose part I shall now represent was a dream—day-dreamer. I loved my dreams, and when I was struggling with pot-hooks and hangers I would forget myself on occasions and would slip out to my dreams» — y el recuerdo de infancia que el script trae por mandato de ese grupo, con la voz declarando que representa la parte de la niña que fue.

«Then it happened that when I was walking in celestial places I would be brought back by my teacher. I remem¬ ber still the ruler’s rap on the knuckles and my own shock of pain. (Note, last sentence written very wildly.) After that, reproof, scolding, and I was in a daze, vacant, I couldn’t explain.» — y cómo acaba ese recuerdo: el golpe de la regla en los nudillos, el sobresalto y el aturdimiento, que es el episodio del que el libro hace el primer pisoteo de lo psíquico.

«I was afraid of what she might say about my dreams.—Walking in celestial places! It sounded blasphemous or very odd, and to have had my dreams trampled on would have deeply wounded me.» — del quinto script, en voz de la comunicadora: el miedo de niña a que sus sueños sonaran blasfemos o raros y a que se los pisotearan.

«How true was what the poet wrote: “Tread softly, you tread on my dreams,” Yeats, yes, he wrote that. A strange man, but he understood the psychic world» — y el verso que esa voz trae para decirlo, atribuido dentro del script a su autor, con el juicio de que era hombre extraño y entendía el mundo psíquico.

«Later in my childhood, I mean when I was a girl, I used to get scribbles of automatic writing (13). Because my day-dreaming was so ill-treated, I did not tell anyone about it. I was doubtful too, as I had grown to be critical as to its source.» — el script fecha en la adolescencia los primeros garabatos de escritura automática y da dos razones para el silencio, el maltrato del ensueño y una duda propia sobre su origen.

«It sowed in my soul a deep fear, and in my adult life I harvested its grain. When in my married life I began again to get automatic writing, my childhood’s fear of disgrace through day-dreaming led me not to talk about it to people. Oh! There were other reasons too—the conventions of the time. But I would like W.H. to know the real fundamental reason, the source of my reluctance to sit with people, and later to permit publications about my writings, and I only permitted it in a limited sense, and I insisted on being called Mrs. Wills in anything that was printed about my work.» — la explicación que el script da del secreto de toda una vida, y que es lo que el libro entero quiere explicar: un miedo sembrado en la infancia, del que salen la reticencia a sentarse con gente, el límite puesto a las publicaciones y la exigencia del seudónimo.

«Frequently my dear husband asked to be present at it and I always refused. It was, as I realize now, that fear created in childhood that caused me to shrink from this ordeal. When I did at last let Charles witness the writing, I think the fear was so repressed, as Gerald tells me, it created a storm in my mind. Probably, G.C., you won’t believe me. But I passed right out during that sitting with my husband. Did you ever go unconscious when you wrote? No, you say. Oh, you have been fortunate. I felt so cheap, so drained after it. But Charles was very kind and understanding about it» — y el episodio con que el script lo ilustra: la negativa repetida al marido, el desmayo cuando por fin lo dejó asistir y el cansancio de después.

«My communicators, the Cam group, were pressing me to write for others. I resisted for a time, because of that fear, which was like a little ghost seated at the back of my brain—a spectre haunting me.» — del quinto script: la presión del grupo para que escribiera para otros y la figura con que la voz nombra su miedo, un fantasma sentado en el fondo del cerebro.

«But eventually I consulted a very clever woman about the writings. Oh, how understanding she was too. She gave me wise advice and exactly what I needed, courage.» — y quién la sacó de ahí según el script, una mujer muy lista que le dio consejo y valor; el script la nombra con un nombre supuesto que el aparato después identifica.

«The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. Portia, you know.» — y el script explica ese nombre supuesto citando el parlamento de donde sale, que es el mismo recurso de composición que usa con los nombres propios.

«I gave writings to a scientist (16)—sat with him—I mean sometimes speaking, sometimes taking down what the communicator was dictating to me. It came sometimes just in bits and scraps» — del quinto script: cómo describe la voz sus propias sesiones con el primer asistente, a veces hablando y a veces tomando el dictado, y llegando a retazos.

«He used to talk to me quite a lot about it. It was all rather over my head. Oh such analysing! So I must confess I pretended I wasn’t much interested in the research for which he had such a passion. But I really was very interested. Only all such talk was like pulling to pieces my other-world dreams, and anyhow he couldn’t simplify and used such long words» — y lo que el script dice del segundo asistente, que es el punto en que Broad apoya su argumento: que aquello le quedaba por encima de la cabeza y que fingía desinterés porque el análisis le deshacía sus sueños del otro mundo.

«But his wife, Betty, was a delight and rather a relief, so bright, so charming, and such a believer. I could tell of my visions of other worlds to her safely and she believed them all» — y el contraste con la mujer de él, a quien el script atribuye ser el alivio ante quien podía contar sus visiones sin riesgo.

«He likes to laugh at his past serious self and as you are a searcher too, he says, warn her of its dangers—loss of a sense of humour.» — y la advertencia que el script pone en boca de esa segunda voz para quien investiga, sobre el peligro de perder el sentido del humor.

«I am pressing you on and have been hanging about you, because soon these things will become known and therefore only what I say now is of value.» — la razón de prisa que el script pone en boca de la comunicadora, que es la misma que el investigador había puesto en su carta: que pronto se sabrán estas cosas y solo vale lo que diga ahora.

«I have ignored any suggestions I was given from the earth level as to what I might write if I could through you. The group here still hold together, and I have tried to follow their instructions as to what you might be capable of receiving.» — y la regla de trabajo que esa voz declara: desoír lo que le sugieren desde la tierra y seguir las instrucciones del grupo sobre lo que la automatista pueda recibir.

«The group consists of those of Cambridge who were my communicators and to them have been added others interested. Among them my friend, Gerald, the friend I called Portia. I am Mrs. Wills. That is not quite right. Never mind, press on—listen, O, the scientist is of the group too.» — la composición del grupo según el script, con la corrección del propio apellido a media frase, que es el error que el caso arrastra desde el principio.

«I hope I may be spared the experience of slipping into the River of Forgetfulness. But there is another kind of forgetful¬» — el script nombra con una figura clásica el olvido que la voz teme y distingue en seguida otro; el troceo corta forgetfulness con el guion U+00AC.

«When we converse through a medium and with a medium or automatist we become, as it were, dependent on her thoughts, words and images, and we go wrong, we stray in that tide. It can be a River of Forgetfulness temporarily too, for the struggling communicator in many cases, and it can be a mixture; part the automatist, part the communicator, or it can come in flashes and be almost true.» — y ese otro olvido es la doctrina del proceso que el libro persigue: el comunicador queda como dependiente de los pensamientos, palabras e imágenes de la automatista y se extravía en esa corriente, de modo que lo que sale es mezcla, o llega en destellos y es casi verdadero.

«But what was always sure, true and wonderful to me were my other world visions, and these were not my imagination. I have since my passing rediscovered them, found they are what the S.P.R. call veridical!» — y lo que la voz opone a esa duda, con el término técnico de la investigación psíquica dicho por ella: sus visiones del otro mundo, que dice haber reencontrado tras su paso y hallado verídicas.

«She tells me that she endeavoured to communicate through other mediums since her passing, that she knocked at Mrs. L.’s door, and sought also Mrs. W.H. She says that she finds it very difficult through not always knowing what has been picked up and what has been missed.» — del sexto script, en voz del control: la comunicadora dice haber probado con otras médiums desde su muerte y da la dificultad propia del oficio, no saber qué se recogió y qué se perdió.

«How far the medium has picked up what might be likened to radar signals.» — y la figura con que el script mide esa incertidumbre, señales de radar, que es vocabulario de su época.

«Three sons were mine and I ask myself did I fail them when they were growing up. I am rather worried about that. There was my eldest, George. My pride was mingled with my love for him. Pride was, I think, a fault in my character.» — y la confesión con que esa carta arranca, con el orgullo puesto por la propia voz entre sus faltas.

«I feel that during the times you three were growing up in those important early years of your early life I was not enough with you, and when I was with my children I expressed too little of that deep love I felt for them. If I failed, for this failure-forgive me. I see now my weakness. I was the victim of several fears.» — la falta que la voz se imputa y la causa que le da: no haber estado bastante ni haber expresado bastante el amor que sentía, por ser víctima de varios miedos.

«A mother’s possessive love can do more injury to a son’s character than anything else she can do to him.» — la tesis que organiza todo el sexto script, dicha por esa voz como regla general antes de aplicarla a un caso de la familia.

«She had inherited from an ancestor, the financier, a terribly possessive instinct. He satisfied it by acquiring posses¬ sions, making a great deal of money. But Eveleen satisfied the same instinct by loving possessively.» — y la genealogía con que el script explica el caso de la cuñada: un mismo instinto satisfecho por el antepasado en el acopio de bienes y por ella en el amor.

«It has indeed been her purgatory to see how much she contributed to the ruin of his life on earth, and how unhappy were the consequences for him after his death.» — la doctrina del más allá que el script enuncia de paso: que la cuñada ha tenido por purgatorio ver cuánto contribuyó a la ruina de la vida de su hijo y lo que vino después de su muerte.

«His suicide led to his being plunged into darkness and isolation here for a very long time.» — y lo que el script dice del suicidio y de su consecuencia, oscuridad y aislamiento por mucho tiempo.

«Eventually he took to drugs and, as you know, killed himself. That is a mortal sin.» — el juicio moral que el script pronuncia sobre ese suicidio, en la voz de la comunicadora y con el vocabulario de su religión.

«He took into this life his crude ego that hated and hated, and denied love. So he suffered much.» — y la mecánica que el script da del castigo, que no es sentencia sino continuidad: se lleva a esa vida el ego que odiaba y negaba el amor.

«Poor Eveleen some time after coming here had to perceive, as we all have to, the consequences resulting from her life on earth.» — la regla que el script generaliza a todos, con un tenemos que incluye a quien habla: al llegar hay que percibir las consecuencias de la propia vida en la tierra.

«though her reception by L. was grim, she sought him out and tried to help him out of his hell of her and his creation.» — y lo que sigue a esa percepción según el script: buscar al dañado y tratar de sacarlo de un infierno que la voz llama creación de los dos.

«So when you were all children I tried to avoid possessing you, tried to make you three independent little mortals. But I may have gone to the other extreme and not showed you enough of the deep love I felt for you. So forgive me please if I failed you in loving when you were a small boy.» — la aplicación que la voz hace de ese ejemplo a sí misma, que es el nudo de la carta: por evitar el amor posesivo pudo caer en el extremo contrario.

«St. Paul was so right when he said “We are members one of another.” We cannot live a day on earth without affecting in some way some person in our circle. The little builds into the great as time goes by, and our influence may precipitate some other soul’s downfall, through the accumulation of the little, through the building up of the bricks of time.» — la doctrina con que el script cierra, apoyada en una cita paulina: que no se vive un día sin afectar a alguien, y que lo pequeño se acumula hasta poder precipitar la caída de otra alma.

«And indeed there can be much jerry building, bad workman¬ ship, thin walls that crash into ruins.» — la figura con que el sexto script cierra esa doctrina de lo pequeño acumulado, construcción chapucera y muros delgados que se derrumban.

«She is pleased to be called, but doubtful of your capacity to take down what she has to say, as she says you only get things from her in patches.» — del séptimo script, en voz del control: la comunicadora duda de la capacidad de la automatista porque de ella solo le llegan retazos.

«patchwork quilt. Bits are hers and other patches yours. Hold that letter in your left hand or keep it beside you, and I will help her to write, then we may do better.» — y la figura con que el script nombra ese defecto, la colcha de retazos en que unos son de una y otros de la otra, que es la misma selección mutua de los scripts anteriores.

«But neither G.C., as I call this automatist, nor I, are skilled enough to weave the old pattern, to attempt cross-correspondence as they would wish» — del séptimo script: la voz declina el encargo de intentar una correspondencia cruzada y da la razón, que ni ella ni la automatista tienen destreza para tejer el patrón antiguo.

«Besides, I am sorting memories as one sorts out the contents of old cupboards —enjoyment of flowers, pictures, the wonder of a young girl who goes abroad for the first time. (Word illegible.) Also annoyances, small quarrels, people being petty. What a heap of little pleasures, little occasional triumphs, vexations, mistakes, make up the detail of life!» — y la figura con que describe su trabajo de ese día, ordenar memorias como quien vacía armarios viejos, con el montón de pequeños placeres, vejaciones y errores que forman el detalle de una vida.

«Many of the memories have lost their shape—are like old clothes in shreds. But here is one episode that came out recently quite clearly. I tell it to you because this letter contact with W.H. rouses it up.» — el estado en que la voz declara su propia memoria, ropa vieja en jirones, y la excepción que la carta le despierta y que el script titula después.

«Many years ago I spent a strange hour in a room being one of a trio. We were listening to great music. All was peaceful. But the music did not carry me away. It peopled the room with the invisible dead. But at first I felt rather than perceived their presences. As I know now I became linked with the third in the trio, the deeper mind of a living man, who was resting and relaxed and appeared to be half asleep.» — así abre el pasaje que el script titula La Memoria: tres personas oyendo música, la sala poblada de presencias y el enlace con la mente honda del tercero, un hombre vivo que dormitaba.

«But I want you to realize that it was the third of the trio—this old man of eighty years or so— who gave me the power in some curious way to see this young woman, so attractive, the embodiment of youth, who literally shone down upon him as she stood beside him—rays of a hidden sun, as it were, emanating from her body, as she stood looking down at him.» — la mecánica que el script atribuye a esa visión, y que es lo que aquí interesa: que el poder de verla se lo daba el propio anciano, y que la mujer resplandecía sobre él como rayos de un sol oculto.

«He so ancient and she so young, yet they had been young once together. There’s a riddle for you!» — el enigma que la voz plantea de esa escena, la contemporánea joven junto al viejo, y que es lo que el aparato después coteja.

«But when I met him, he was cold and austere, and I was in awe of his admirable intellect. He had schooled himself, punished himself, like a flagellating saint, and so had kept himself immaculate for her.» — y el retrato que el script hace de ese hombre, con la figura del santo que se flagela y se guarda intacto para la muerta.

«As she you will call the ghost appeared beside the aged man, I felt myself slipping, fading, passing into the sleep of trance. Oh! I was always afraid of losing control, of being banished. It meant I might unfit myself for my work in life, which was dear to me. So I struggled frantically to keep my hold on my self. I got back, but that meant the ghost disappeared.» — lo que la voz dice que le costó esa visión: el deslizamiento hacia el trance, el miedo a perder el dominio y quedar inútil para su trabajo, y la lucha por volver, que hizo desaparecer la aparición.

«You two—Helen and W.H.—who have made such a study of ghosts and apparitions, of their sudden appearances, regard them, I think, as projections of the individual man or woman’s mind.» — del octavo script: la voz atribuye a sus destinatarios la lectura de las apariciones como proyecciones de la mente, que es la que va a corregir.

«I can assure you now that human souls born into this world after death in many cases pass on to a different level, where their appearance is of a kind not known to any human being on earth.» — y la doctrina que opone: que muchas almas pasan a un nivel distinto cuya apariencia no conoce ningún ser humano en la tierra.

«They are not merely moving at a different rate; they travel on a different scale. On that scale and changed key, they are cut off from earth.» — la precisión de esa doctrina en el vocabulario musical que el script usa: no es solo otro ritmo sino otra escala, y en esa escala y ese tono quedan cortados de la tierra.

«Only when these souls drop back into the scale and slower rhythm and sequence [frequence?]] near the physical, can they project or put on the likeness of themselves as they were on earth, so that she or he [is]] whole as the inner eye perceives them or their projected images.» — y la condición que el script pone para que una aparición sea posible: que el alma baje a la escala y al ritmo lento cercanos a lo físico y se revista de su semejanza terrena.

«But medium is an incorrect term. They should be called interpreters, and bad ones at that! So often there is mistranslation.» — la enmienda de vocabulario que el octavo script propone y que es su tesis central: que médium es término incorrecto y habría que decir intérpretes, y malos.

«They catch perhaps what the communicator emphasizes and then fill in their own subconscious material.» — y la mecánica del error que el script describe: se capta lo que el comunicador subraya y se rellena con material subconsciente propio.

«In my public life, I had at one time much experience of interpreters, and I know how they miss the idiom, how they can damage the essential sense, the shape of the speaker’s remarks in another language, or if they give the sense, it is the views, the idiom of personality that is lost.» — y el símil con que el script apoya esa enmienda, tomado de la vida pública de la comunicadora: los intérpretes de idioma, que pierden el giro o, si dan el sentido, pierden la persona.

«So there are no mediums, there are only interpreters, and most are extremely inefficient ones. If the communication passes through the sieve of the interpreter’s subliminal mind, the brain may play havoc with it. So please abolish the word medium, and employ the word interpreter instead.» — y la petición expresa con que el script remata, abolir la palabra médium y poner intérprete en su lugar.

«She deliberately adopted the cast-off shell, put on the ancient costume and appearance in order to re-introduce herself, and thank me for imparting faith in her resurrected self to that wearied, bored, apprehensive man I described in the earthly scene of the trio listening to the music thirty or more years» — del octavo script: la aparición de La Memoria, dice la voz, se puso a propósito el caparazón desechado y el vestido antiguo para volver a presentarse y agradecerle, que es la doctrina de la apariencia prestada aplicada a un caso.

«There is the ancient definition of man—spirit and body. I prefer to call what spiritually influences composite man for evil or for good the anti-self, for it is not egocentric, it is not literally incarnate. It is outside the human being and reveals itself to him only in flashes.» — el término que el octavo script acuña contra la definición antigua de hombre: lo que influye espiritualmente en el compuesto humano no es egocéntrico ni literalmente encarnado, está fuera y se revela solo en destellos, y la voz lo llama el antiyó.

«It can be inspiration, intuition, prophecy, even wisdom, and these flashes are used for evil or good by the receiving human being.» — y lo que el script atribuye a esos destellos, inspiración, intuición, profecía y hasta sabiduría, usados para bien o para mal por quien los recibe.

«I have encountered A. J.B.’s friend. I am free to tell you of their intrinsic inviolable unity. They shared the one anti-self, while consciously separated by her early death.» — y la aplicación de ese término al caso del Domingo de Ramos, que es lo que el script sostiene de esa pareja: una unidad intrínseca e inviolable por compartir un mismo antiyó.

«If they had not been parted by her death, he would never have worked with that industry, that brilliance that made a name for him. Work was his escape from intolerable memory. Oh! He was so idle before she passed.» — la lectura que el script hace de esa vida, con el trabajo por escape de una memoria intolerable y la ociosidad anterior puesta al lado.

«There is force in the writer of that letter, a man with a strong will and an independent character. He would never flatter. His frankness might make him enemies. Honest speech does not assist ambition. But I think he is learning or has learnt to be silent when it is unwise to speak.» — del noveno script, en voz del control: el retrato de carácter que hace de quien escribió la carta, franco hasta hacerse enemigos y aprendido a callar.

«Here now is this quick-silver lady. She is still developing, emerging, and has become more unified than when first she wrote.» — y cómo el control describe el estado de la comunicadora, todavía desarrollándose y más unificada que al principio, que es la fórmula del recién llegado que va reuniéndose.

«The magistrate is the prisoner in the dock, and her son is Judge and Jury. He has to give a verdict in an unusual law case. There is, I think, no precedent. At any rate no magistrate was ever tried before in a law court with her son as Judge to decide the issue.» — del noveno script, en voz de la comunicadora: la figura judicial con que responde a la carta de su hijo, ella misma en el banquillo y él de juez y jurado.

«Does the prisoner exist or does she not? ‘That is the question—a grave question. When there are so many graves, such entire interments.» — y la pregunta a que reduce el pleito, con el juego de palabras sobre las tumbas.

«But will the Judge put on the Black Cap and decide for entire annihilation? Or will he show mercy to the criminal, taking into consideration her entire incompetence to plead, her total inexperience, her lack of preparation? Pray, my Lord, adjourn the Court and at least give the prisoner time to prepare her case against decapitation and annihilation!» — y la petición con que cierra esa figura: que el juez no dicte la aniquilación entera y le dé tiempo a preparar su caso.

«I don’t intend to be a missionary. Far be it from me to convert you to a belief that a vestige of your mother still lives on quite comfortably, without ache or pain. Later I may explain why it is probably far better for you to keep your belief in my annihilation. But it is happiness to me to get your letter, to write to you again, and tell travellers’ tales.» — la voz declina el papel de convertidora, se reserva explicar después por qué al hijo le conviene su incredulidad, y llama a lo que va a contar relatos de viajero, que es la misma fórmula que Broad emplea en el Foreword.

«After I woke up from the sleep of death, and following its uneasy dreams, some pleasant, some nightmares, my father and mother appeared to welcome me. Then your father and my sisters came.» — el relato del despertar que el noveno script da, con los sueños inquietos, unos gratos y otros pesadillas, y la bienvenida de los muertos de la familia.

«It was all rather gradual—time of oblivion and unawareness, then these two were there beside me—my parents almost like doctor and nurse, and they guided me back into real conscious¬» — del noveno script: el despertar descrito como gradual, con los padres muertos haciendo de médico y enfermera y guiándola de vuelta a la consciencia.

«Over here we have freer movement in space-time. For we have our own kind of space and succession of events.» — la doctrina del tiempo que el script enuncia para el otro lado, espacio propio y sucesión propia de sucesos.

«Understand that the present Mary and George customarily live on a higher level than I am in at present. On that level, if I could attain to it, they would be almost un¬ recognizable to me. But after my passing they came down to my level, put on their mortal semblance as I remembered them, in order to greet me.» — y la doctrina de los niveles aplicada al reencuentro: los muertos que la reciben viven en un nivel más alto, donde le serían irreconocibles, y bajan y se ponen su semejanza mortal para saludarla.

«To give me confidence in my beginning, to reassemble my bits of mind, as it were, my mother took me through some of the earliest of my memories that had made an impact on me and are all pictured here.» — el procedimiento que el script atribuye a la madre muerta, y que es la revivencia de la vida terrena que Broad resume: llevarla por sus memorias más tempranas, que allá están todas en imágenes.

«little dramas enacted by my past child-self were all reassuring to me, the spectator, after the lonely passage of death. Somehow I felt that what should have been the experience of everything being dead, breaking up, nothing was dead, nothing lost.» — del noveno script: lo que la revivencia de la infancia le deja a la voz, que donde esperaba encontrarlo todo muerto y deshecho no había nada muerto ni perdido.

«At one time I dreamt of becoming an artist. I loved colour and form (5). I drew, I tried to paint. But there [were] too many other attractions and I had no real talent.» — y las ambiciones que el script le atribuye, con el límite dicho por ella misma y que después se coteja.

«It was a slow-motion picture in this film of memory. When Charles came to figure in my life how shy I was of him! He seemed much too old for me» — la figura con que el script nombra la revivencia, película a cámara lenta, aplicada al noviazgo.

«What is called a united family is an unnatural phenomenon. An Englishman who quarrels with his family is following a natural healthy instinct. It does not matter who or what started the quarrel, they are obeying nature’s law in casting each other off.» — y la sentencia que el script suelta de paso sobre la familia unida, con la ley natural invocada del lado de la riña.

«The old, old woman can only write of it now because she has been watching it scene by scene, living again its varied emotions, its keen anxieties, its palpi¬ tating wonder, its fears, its hopes, and yet remaining detached, the spectator in the stalls.» — la posición doble que el décimo script vuelve a describir, revivir escena por escena las emociones y quedar desprendida, espectadora en la platea.

«Oh my dear, you do not know your mother (3), or rather you only know one aspect of her, the role she played as mother in your life, and a very busy mother too.» — y lo que la voz le dice al hijo desde esa posición, que él conoce un solo aspecto de ella, el papel de madre.

«That phase in my life was like the tragic climax at the end of an act in a play. As I viewed it again, I was deeply caught by its conflicting emotions.» — la figura teatral con que el décimo script ordena su propia vida, y que es la misma de la vida como obra que Broad resume del script veintinueve.

«Then such losses through death to nearly everyone I knew became cumulative, drove me back from the dust and ashes into public life, eager to make a better world. My soul yearned for contact with workers for the people. How great was my ambition to work for the living and their preservation, how little, if any, my achievement» — la explicación que la voz da de su propia entrada en la vida pública, la muerte acumulada empujándola fuera del polvo y la ceniza, con la desproporción entre ambición y logro dicha por ella.

«I make this point, my Lord, so as to show how in our terrene life human personality can and does often die several times in a lifetime and a new or much changed human personality is born, continuing in many respects differ¬ ently. A part of ourselves is buried, rots away, and there is re-creation, an adding to the self or a lessening or hardening or coarsening or otherwise.» — la tesis del décimo script, que es el argumento de la comunicadora ante su juez: que la personalidad humana muere varias veces dentro de una misma vida terrena y nace otra, de modo que la muerte del cuerpo no es la única muerte.

«As we or our human personality can thus die several times while our physical body continues in one life, so death makes a great change in the personality, and, my Lord, I can see from your letter that you regard me as already a disintegrating mother, heading swiftly for final dissolution.» — y el paso que da con ella: si la personalidad muere varias veces con el cuerpo vivo, la muerte hace un gran cambio de personalidad y no la aniquilación que el hijo supone.

«One number I always remember—8—. Turning points or deaths of my human personality seemed to come in eights for me—study them—» — el patrón numérico que la voz se atribuye para esos cambios, con los cuatro años que el aparato después coteja uno por uno.

«The quicksilver lady is very imperious at moments and then at others persuasive. I think that in life she liked to get her own way. She was subtle and so intuitive. She could enter sympathetically into people’s hearts and was at times all soft¬ ness, kindness, fascinating people she met. But she could be satirical and was impatient of stupidity. There was a deep reserve, and she was by nature secretive. She got on better with men than with women.» — del undécimo script, en voz del control: el retrato de carácter de la comunicadora, con la reserva profunda y el ser secretiva por naturaleza que el libro entero explica.

«She is very persistent now, but still finds it difficult to manage the writing. I will try and help her so far as she will permit. Too loosely bound, owing to her acute psychic sensitiv¬ ity. She is not a skilled communicator» — y el juicio del control sobre su destreza como comunicadora, atribuido a estar demasiado sueltamente atada por su aguda sensibilidad psíquica.

«Death terminates more than the life of the one who has departed this life. It means for she pier] who was intimate a death for herself.» — del undécimo script: la doctrina de la viudez como muerte propia, que es la misma tesis de las varias muertes de la personalidad aplicada a quien queda.

«If she is mentally to survive adequately, so many memories of past years have to be locked out, doors closed. For Winifred, the adoption of another human personality. For now she is the widow instead of the wife.» — y el procedimiento que describe, cerrar puertas sobre memorias y adoptar otra personalidad humana, la de la viuda en lugar de la esposa.

«I am prepared to admit that as the human person¬ ality perishes—in my case it did so—every ten years during a long lifetime, so human personality perishes sometimes only gradually after the great change of death.» — la concesión que la voz hace a su juez, y que es la parte del argumento que juega contra ella: si la personalidad perece cada diez años, también perece a veces, solo que despacio, tras el gran cambio de la muerte.

«But of Winifred there remains the inner being, the core of self, with a few of the characteristics, just trimmings of the past personality. They continue permanently in a discarnate state.» — y lo que salva de esa concesión: el ser interior, el núcleo del yo, con unos pocos rasgos que llama adornos de la personalidad pasada, permanentes en estado descarnado.

«But she, Winifred, is undying, as for one thing she goes on loving the changing personalities of the small son.» — y el argumento último que la voz da de esa permanencia, que no es metafísico sino de afecto: que sigue queriendo a las personalidades cambiantes del hijo.

«All had different human personalities, different appearances. Outwardly and in conversation different. But in their deep roots of the self I knew them to be one, and gathered them into memory’s heart.» — del undécimo script: la conclusión del argumento de las personalidades sucesivas, aplicado al hijo, con la unidad puesta en las raíces hondas del yo.

«But now I plead, my Lord, that we may compromise. Human personality does not survive death, but the soul or real mind survives.» — el arreglo que la voz propone a su hijo incrédulo, y que es la tesis a que llega el script: no sobrevive la personalidad humana, sobrevive el alma o mente real.

«Memories persist like the leaves of the tree, from the consciousness the living self or person discards them. But all that is deepest and best or worst continues after and before death.» — y la figura con que lo dice, las memorias como hojas del árbol que la consciencia descarta, con lo más hondo persistiendo antes y después de la muerte.

«In this other state the human soul continues living, expanding or contracting. Describe the soul, you say. It is something essential, rarely recognizably expressed, save in the highly developed, through the outer trappings during the span of existence on earth.» — la definición de alma que el script da a pedido, por lo que rara vez se expresa reconociblemente a través de los arreos exteriores de la vida terrena.

«Yes, Henry, my dear, I survive, and I have not survived death. My human personality has certainly shrivelled! So at last, through compromise, I think we can agree on this issue of life or extinction. Thank God, my last old crone personality is extinct! My Lord, the case for the Defence is now closed.» — y la fórmula con que la voz cierra su alegato ante el juez, que junta las dos mitades del arreglo: sobrevive y no ha sobrevivido a la muerte, porque la personalidad de vieja se extinguió.

«I think that I may now sign my full name to you. My work on the magisterial bench taught me to be cautious about the writing of surnames. So I have been careful and left them out when dictating to you. Surnames commit.» — del duodécimo script: la voz explica por qué hasta ahora no daba apellidos, con una razón tomada de su oficio de magistrada.

«I ought to have been able to get on in that respect with both sexes. But I did not understand women sufficiently. I could get on well with women acquaintances, but I certainly recall that I failed in the intimacy of a close companionship, a sharing of daily life, with one woman.» — del script trece: el balance que la voz hace de sus fracasos con las mujeres, con el caso concreto anunciado al final.

«I recall that at the outset I discussed with her the problem of quarrels and quoted Pope’s lines: “Forgiveness to the injured doth belong For he ne’er pardons who hath done the wrong.’’» — y el verso de Pope que el script pone en el arranque de esa convivencia, que es el eje de la anécdota.

«I think that Pope gave very bad advice in that rhyme. In any quarrel, if the injured party decides in the end to forgive, she must take quite a long time about it. It is essential that the injured party remains unyielding until and unless the offender has made a concession and an approach already. Then she should, if she is a Christian, give generous terms.» — y la objeción de la voz a ese verso, con una regla de conducta propia: la parte agraviada ha de tardar en perdonar y no ceder mientras el ofensor no se acerque.

«But the point is that now I realize that Mrs. R. was the injured party in the quarrel. That is at least the obvious view which is not always the correct view to be taken of it.» — el giro que la voz da a su propia anécdota desde el otro lado, poniéndose en el papel de ofensora y advirtiendo que lo obvio no siempre es lo correcto.

«Now, though Mrs. R. was stupid, her instinct in this respect was wise. I would have curbed my tongue if she had forgiven me and I had stayed on. But that would have been going against my own nature and was no satisfactory solution of the problem.» — y la conclusión, que se vuelve contra ella misma: el instinto de la otra fue sabio, porque quedarse la habría obligado a ir contra su propia naturaleza.

«Partnership in living can give extraordinary happiness if it is based on democratic principles. There must be no totali¬ tarianism. The exercise of free speech is essential.» — del script trece, el consejo que la voz da al hijo, dicho con el vocabulario político de su tiempo: convivencia sobre principios democráticos, sin totalitarismo y con libertad de palabra.

«Sexual passion is deceitful, lying, cannot last long, must stale between a man and a woman. But the mental or passion of imagination between a man and a woman can permanently preserve unity, can produce the devotion of a lifetime and the happiest of lives.» — y la doctrina del vínculo que opone, con la pasión de la imaginación por encima de la sexual como lo único que preserva la unidad.

«So, far more important than the choice of a career, is the choice of a partner who can fully realize in imagination the other’s needs.» — y la jerarquía que saca de ahí, la elección de pareja por encima de la de carrera, que era lo que el hijo había preguntado.

«In this fundamentally Mind World in which I am now, I see how unimportant is the transient sexual attraction and passion on earth among human beings, how vitally important is a rich imagination in which two minds are on the same level. So the partnership here endures even as the two journey to wider horizons, if there is sufficient imagination.» — del script trece: el nombre que la voz da al estado en que dice estar, un mundo fundamentalmente de mente, y la consecuencia que saca para los vínculos.

«Thus the mother remains the basic subterranean influence in most men’s lives.» — y la tesis con que la voz cierra la carta, la madre como influencia subterránea básica en la vida de casi todos los hombres; el troceo funde itrreininds en una sola palabra.

«At the instigation of one Gurney and his accomplice, Gerald B. , she became once more their intermediary—a woefully indifferent interpreter of their general conception of what constitutes Homo Sapiens.» — del script catorce, en la misma figura judicial: la voz se declara intermediaria de dos comunicadores y se llama a sí misma intérprete lamentablemente mediocre de lo que ellos piensan del hombre.

«Why, then, it may be asked, was she allowed to plead; why were Gurney and Gerald B. not appointed as Counsel engaged for her defence? It is because they were not invited, not desired as communicators.» — y la razón que da de que hablara ella y no ellos, que es ya la doctrina del script: no fueron invitados ni deseados como comunicadores.

«The realization of the self of a communicator depends largely on the recognition of his reality by the automatist and by the assumption of recognition of him on the part of the investigator.» — la primera tesis del Proceso de Comunicación: que la realización del yo del comunicador depende del reconocimiento de su realidad por la automatista y de que el investigador la dé por supuesta.

«Even if I am defeated and my son does not believe in the reality of my continued existence, someone else who reads my report may find a fragment of reality in this “story”.» — y lo que la voz declara esperar de su propio informe aun dando por perdido el pleito con el hijo.

«When the soul of one newly dead seeks to come back, she has a sense of paralyzing isolation. She fails, if no living human being invites her and extends a welcome.» — la doctrina del recién muerto que el script enuncia: aislamiento paralizante y fracaso si ningún vivo lo invita y le da la bienvenida.

«His affection for me temporarily, naughtily, overcame his intellectual powers. What joy for me when I realized that he was prepared to be my judge and consider the evidence if any!» — la explicación que el script da del caso de su hijo incrédulo: el afecto venció por un momento a las facultades intelectuales y mandó lo que el script llama una bocanada de deseo.

«In very rare cases, highly intelligent communicators, exceptional people who have a purpose, some warning to be given to a human being, some wrong to be rectified, or some¬ thing mistaken put right, may, even if there is no human desire, no invitation extended to them, break out from the fastness of the dead, and convey a communication quite unsought to a medium or automatist or sensitive.» — la excepción que el script admite a su propia regla del deseo: comunicadores muy inteligentes con un propósito pueden romper por sí solos sin invitación alguna.

«The numerous apparitions of the newly-dead, announcing by their appearance to friend or relative their departure from earth, often come from people not gifted. That is because, with the sudden realization of their own death, they are consumed with the desire to announce they are alive.» — y la segunda excepción, las apariciones de recién muertos anunciando su partida, que el script atribuye a gente sin dotes y al deseo repentino de anunciar que están vivos.

«Very often it is their one and only communication, as they cannot maintain that white heat of desire, also they are incapable of making a further communication once their being is co¬ ordinated on a higher level, especially if no radar signal of desire is made to them from kith or kin still resident in the physical body.» — y por qué esas apariciones no se repiten según el script: no se sostiene ese calor blanco del deseo y, coordinado el ser en un nivel más alto, ya no se puede comunicar sin señal de los suyos.

«When I use the word desire, I mean, as Fred tells me, the wishful emotion, the longing, that has imagination as its source, and he says that imagination is the mental and emotional faculty that forms ideal images or combinations of images.» — la definición que el script da de su término clave, atribuida a otro comunicador: deseo como emoción anhelante que nace de la imaginación, y la imaginación como la facultad que forma imágenes ideales.

«Thus there was reciprocity between me and W.H., mutual action which enabled me to write, through G.C. a stranger, that Mrs. Tennant was Mrs. Willett, or at least Mrs. Wills, the automatist who played her small part in that monumental correspondence edifice» — del script catorce: la voz aplica su doctrina de la reciprocidad a este mismo caso y de paso vuelve a dar el apellido con su corrección a medias.

«The Group Cross-Correspondence Case might be likened to an orchestra’s perfect performance. The several communicators were scholars, whose intellects were married to imaginations that cherished an ideal image of scholarly perfection in the evidence they conveyed. The investigators and the mediums had sufficient imagination to envisage the ideal image, the objective of perfection. Thus deep called to deep in a unified desire.» — el símil de la orquesta con que el script explica el caso de las correspondencias cruzadas, con la imagen ideal compartida por comunicadores, investigadores y médiums.

«I must add, however, that in this unique case the group of deceased scholars were principally responsible for the high standard of results. They selected with shrewd wisdom the human performers, the investigators and automatists.» — y a quién atribuye el script el mérito de ese caso, al grupo de eruditos muertos que eligieron con sagacidad a sus ejecutantes humanos.

«At the present time imagina¬ tion is too completely subservient to the intellect among welleducated people. The over-riding intellect produces sterility of imagination.» — el diagnóstico de época con que el script explica que los casos se agoten: la imaginación sometida al intelecto entre la gente culta, y el intelecto dominante produciendo esterilidad de imaginación.

«As regards the success of an experiment, the investigator is frequently of more importance than the medium. The surviving souls, whom I shall call “the living-dead”, must also desire to communicate. Reciprocity or reciprocal desire between the investigator and the living-dead, an assumption if only temporary of the two conversationalists’ reality, induces eviden¬» — la tesis más fuerte del script catorce: que para el éxito de un experimento el investigador importa a menudo más que el médium, y que lo que produce resultados evidenciales es la reciprocidad del deseo entre el investigador y los que la voz llama los vivos muertos; el troceo corta evidential con el guion U+00AC.

«But atheists or agnostics who do not subdue the imaginative desire of the explorer will, granted other conditions, a skilled medium, etc., obtain fruitful results. If the desire is there, the gift is there.» — y la consecuencia que el script saca de esa doctrina, que corta por donde no se espera: ateos y agnósticos que no ahoguen el deseo imaginativo obtendrán resultados fecundos, porque donde está el deseo está el don.

«You know the title of the greatest woman in religious history is the Virgin Mary. No, the Virgin Mary isn’t present but her namesake is. Then there is another, our West Country King Arthur. Again remove the title, thus we have Arthur and Mary.» — del script catorce: los dos nombres del caso del Domingo de Ramos llegan por el mismo recurso de composición que los topónimos, quitando títulos a dos figuras conocidas.

«A ring, owing to his caution and his dilatoriness, was not presented. Oh, what infinite regret! She was not there. She had gone when he arrived. Bury it, bury it with her in the earth and say Goodbye forever.» — el núcleo del caso tal como el script lo cuenta: un anillo que no llegó a entregarse y que se enterró con ella.

«But only his reason said “Goodbye for ever”, his heart, his imagination did not. Once a year he returned and wondered, pondered, as he stood by the grave. Was it earth to earth, dust to dust, solely?» — y lo que el script añade de la conducta posterior de él, la visita anual a la tumba y la pregunta que se hacía allí.

«But my tableau here, previously mentioned, represents this twentieth-century soul, Arthur. His human personality, his appearance, are that of the nineteenth-century man he was, at the age of thirty or so. In the presence of Gerald this Arthur presents the girl Mary with a ring he was too late to offer her when he lived on earth. This tableau was objective, or is objective, an event that actually occurred in a supernal realm of recent years by your clock» — y el cuadro que el script dice presenciar, con la insistencia en que es objetivo y en que ocurrió de verdad en un reino supernal: el hombre entrega a la muchacha, con la apariencia que tuvo a los treinta años, el anillo que llegó tarde.

«But even a spinster such as you are can understand that a myth is some¬ times the bearer of an ultimate truth.» — y la respuesta que le da, con la doctrina del mito como portador de una verdad última.

«It is the Welsh tale of Peredur. In this tale there is no grail at all, but only the Quest!’» — y el remate del script catorce, que remonta el ciclo artúrico a un relato galés donde no hay grial sino solo la búsqueda.

«There is no mere mention of Mr. Salter’s name in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is actually addressed to him. Pray note a statement in an early verse in which the Preacher says he is seeing what is good for the sons of men and what they should do all the days of their life. At the close of this lovely and instructive poem, the poet reverts from the general to the particular, i.e. Mr. Salter. He wrote, “My son, be admonished.’’ I hope Mr. Salter is fittingly admonished! He is everyman or in the Preacher’s words, “my son”.» — y la lectura que hace de ese libro, que devuelve la broma: no lo menciona de paso sino que le está dirigido, porque él es todo hombre.

«Noticeably women are left out of it, as if they did not exist! But here for our reassurance, I may mention that Ecclesiastes is bracketed with the Song of Solomon, at any rate by King James’s inspired translators of the Bible. ‘In the years of my adolescence, I was impressed that this twin poem is obviously intended as instruction for the daughters of women. But to me when I was a girl, the Song of Solomon was informative rather than instructive. What is Helen’s view? Are those two poems twins? One for the instruction of every man, and the other for the instruction of every woman?» — y la objeción que la voz le pone a ese mismo libro, con la pareja que propone y la pregunta que deja abierta a la otra destinataria.

«It gave me a little heartache to see Helen so like her mother when incarnate and also W.H., both studying. They were reminiscent of a swiftly vanishing adornment of English life—scholarship and a tradition of culture so different from their primitive ugly age of speed records, cars and planes and» — y lo que la voz añade de esa visión, con el juicio de época que le es propio: una erudición y una tradición de cultura que se van, frente a lo que llama su edad primitiva y fea; el tramo se corta donde el troceo reemite la plana.

«Through my fears I placed restrictions on the report of adventures of the soul, which, even if small in themselves, if known might help to convey the larger hope to some few thinking people.» — la razón que la voz da para levantar sus restricciones, dicha sin exagerar el alcance: aventuras del alma pequeñas en sí que podrían llevar la esperanza mayor a unos pocos.

«We are all as dead as Dodo to human beings, however much we are alive to ourselves in this hither state. Those related who come after us stand on their own merits. They are not respon¬ sible for their ancestors’ performances on earth. If they are hurt by revelations, then it is only hurt vanity ... a reprehensible quality.» — y el argumento con que despacha la objeción de los deudos: que los que vienen después no responden por lo que hicieron sus antepasados, y que si se ofenden es vanidad herida.

«Gerald was right in believing that a human being consists of a number of selves or aspects with a primary self, the total of a sum in arithmetic.» — del script dieciséis: la voz suscribe la doctrina del yo compuesto y le da la figura aritmética, un yo primario que es la suma de sus aspectos.

«From this hither state, one aspect of me seeks a contact with Helen, another aspect seeks to make a contact with G.C. ‘We only become unified in spirit or the other self on the higher level.» — y la aplica a su propia condición de comunicadora: aspectos distintos suyos buscando contacto con personas distintas, y unificación solo en el nivel más alto.

«When I communicate, I blend with the automatist in the sense that I depend partly on her memory and her standard of intelligence for words in which to express my thoughts. Occasionally her subliminal mind enters my mind, plunders an idea or memory. It is not all a one-way traffic.» — la mecánica de la comunicación que el script describe, y que es la selección mutua otra vez: dependencia de la memoria y de la inteligencia de la automatista, y saqueo en sentido contrario.

«Then, of course, her mind may insert in patches its own mistaken interpretation. Supernal and infernal juggling can occur» — y el margen de error que la propia voz declara, interpretaciones equivocadas insertadas a retazos y juegos de manos por arriba y por abajo.

«It was not solely the First World War that gradually altered my outlook and inspired in me a conceited missionary zeal to reform mankind. I call it conceited because it is rarely possible to reform anyone. Only bitter experiences may do that.» — del script diecisiete: la voz revisa su propio celo reformador y lo llama presuntuoso, porque a nadie se le reforma salvo por experiencias amargas.

«I shall endow them with the surname Lob, so that I may write the more freely about them. —G.C., you must know where that word comes from—yes, cricket» — y el nombre supuesto con que el script cubre a una familia, explicado en el acto por el término deportivo del que sale.

«I was in awe of him but did not like him on the occasion my husband and I deposited our son in the educational establish¬ ment over which he reigned for a time. George was a nervous boy.» — del script diecisiete: el pasaje sobre el director del colegio, donde va el error de colegio que el aparato registra y que un script posterior enmienda.

«Of course any psychic experiments were all a very private affair. Inviolable secrecy about them was emphasized when I was invited to join the circle. It was agreed that no word of them should be let slip to anyone. Careers had to be protected» — del script dieciocho: la regla de secreto del círculo en que la comunicadora dice haber entrado, con la razón dicha en cuatro palabras.

«A loss through death had drawn his attention to the question of whether there was or was not a supernatural world.» — y lo que el script da por causa del interés del estadista, una pérdida por muerte, que es el caso del Domingo de Ramos visto desde otro ángulo.

«Charming and aloof by nature and inclination, a scholar and a metaphysician, he yet controlled himself to work in humdrum politics. But heredity and family influence on the distaff" side drove him to become an M.P. and a fine speaker.» — el retrato que el script hace de ese hombre por el conflicto entre su naturaleza y su oficio.

«But once in early days of our acquaintance he made to me a remark I never forgot: “The ways of clear thinking lead straight into the valley of mysticism.”» — la frase que el script le atribuye y que la voz dice no haber olvidado, sobre adónde llevan los caminos del pensar claro.

«It was contrary to my small mystical experience in the sense that I likened it to a soaring into the empyrean.» — y la objeción que la voz le puso entonces desde su propia experiencia, que imaginaba como ascenso y no como descenso a un valle.

«But no doubt that notion of mine was, as I see now, rooted in the belief of the small child that heaven was somewhere behind the blue summer sky.» — y cómo la voz enmienda ahora esa objeción suya, remitiéndola a una creencia infantil sobre dónde estaba el cielo.

«One cause of the unhappiness of this man was because his ambition to serve his country, the influence on him of relatives, led him to be a hard-working politician. Such a life compelled him to crush down his mystical nature, banish his real self.» — la lectura que el script hace de la infelicidad de ese hombre: una ambición de servicio que lo obligó a aplastar su naturaleza mística.

«In the political sense I was, as I quickly learnt, an abject failure, and also that through political work it is rarely possible to reform anyone, such as in that talking shop, the League of Nations.» — del script dieciocho, el balance que la voz hace de su propia carrera, con el desdén por la institución en que la hizo.

«But for one of my type, with more ardour than intelligence, it is possible in a small way, to ameliorate people’s humdrum lives, brighten them, give them interest and provide a little beauty, and in Wales I worked on that line of welfare.» — y lo que salva de ese balance, medido a la baja: dar a la vida cotidiana de la gente un poco de interés y de belleza.

«The Welsh have never been properly understood. They are a very independently-minded people. Early Puritanism flourished in Wales, and the Methodist revival there in the nineteenth century indicated their independent outlook. Behind a somewhat rough manner, their working people have a warmth and kindness and religious feeling.» — el retrato que el script hace del pueblo entre el que la comunicadora trabajó, con el puritanismo temprano y la revivificación metodista como señales de independencia.

«I was rather afraid of the psychic or dream side of my nature. It might tip down too much the see-saw, for mine was a dual nature. Like the statesman I so much admired, whose inclination was towards mysticism and metaphysics and who is only remembered as a politician, I too suppressed and I think with advantage the desire to dream, to seek other supernal worlds.» — del script dieciocho: la voz explica su propia vida pública como contrapeso, por miedo a que el lado psíquico inclinara demasiado el balancín de una naturaleza que llama doble.

«But if I am to seem real to my judges it is necessary to show motives for my actions, and how I was moulded into a definite personality.» — y la regla de prueba que la voz se impone dentro del script: para parecer real a sus jueces tiene que mostrar motivos y modelado, no datos sueltos.

«Mary Richardson created the fundamental aspect. To her I think I owed the Celtic Welsh power that enabled me to travel in worlds unseen (5). From her side, not his side, it came, though neither had it.» — y a quién atribuye la voz su don, con la precisión de línea materna y la salvedad de que ninguno de los dos padres lo tenía.

«Actually he was like a player at a chess-board, who exhibits extreme calm when his pawns are hard pressed, his Queen threatened.» — del script diecinueve: el símil con que la voz explica lo que le disgustaba del estadista, la calma extrema ante el desastre.

«But L.G. was my political hero in the far days when the Liberals deposed A.B. and then L.G. became prominent and some time before that too. He represented my loved Wales for me, you see.» — y a quién pone enfrente como su héroe político, con la razón de país que le da.

«Looking back on my earlier personality, I feel that what the foe called “limehousing” in his speeches led me more than anything else to go in for public work and made me a fervent Radical.» — la voz atribuye su entrada en la vida pública a la elocuencia de ese hombre, con la palabra que sus adversarios le ponían y el juicio sobre su propia crudeza de entonces.

«I agree with them that no man is fit to be placed on a pedestal and how little the political sturm und drung [flrang^ of that period matters now!» — y la enmienda que la voz hace desde el otro lado sobre aquel entusiasmo, con la fórmula alemana que el troceo deforma.

«It was a kind of dis¬ integrating disappointment. You, H., wouldn’t realize what that loss meant to me, but when my daughter died, I wept and wept (4). Soon after my exit from the earth I was with her again. The long separation should not have made such a differ¬ ence. But she has much changed, and she behaved like a stranger to me.» — del script diecinueve, el pasaje que Broad tiene por el más verdadero del libro: el reencuentro con la hija muerta de niña, que la voz llama decepción desintegradora y en el que la hija se comporta como una extraña.

«Perhaps after all my connection with her was only through the physical maternal link, but how powerful that can be.» — y la explicación que la voz se da a sí misma, con la reserva de un quizá: que el vínculo fuera solo el lazo materno físico.

«I see of course that it is not the maternal physical link but the permanent soul link that is of account when we meet in this supernal world. Of course I may not be ready yet. I may link up with her later.» — y la doctrina que saca de esa decepción, el lazo permanente del alma por encima del físico, con la salvedad de que quizá ella todavía no esté lista.

«It was my loss through the sudden highwayman robbery of death that led me to start my automatic writing again.» — la causa que la voz da de su vuelta a la escritura automática, con la muerte figurada como salteador de caminos.

«Eventually I found one I have in a previous script called Portia (6). In my despair I wrote to her, and received the kindest of letters from her in reply. It was steadying, calming, made me rational again.» — del script diecinueve: quién la sacó de aquel duelo según la voz, con el nombre supuesto ya usado en un script anterior y el efecto de las cartas recibidas.

«She got me to read a printed record or review of evidence of survival received by a stranger. If I remember rightly, the lady was the wife of a judge in India and an automatist (7). It does not signify who it was. The record discussing her writing was encouraging to me and gave me confidence.» — y el procedimiento de esa consejera, hacerle leer un informe impreso sobre otra automatista, que es lo que le dio confianza para probar.

«Then I made a great effort, managed to keep calm, to dissolve into the hush of one lovely still autumn day. Its peace gave peace to me. I took up my pen, and the writing came swiftly, coherently. Oh, I was overjoyed at first when I read it through, and later two or three other scripts came with the same speed.» — el relato del primer acierto, con la quietud de un día de otoño puesta como condición y la escritura llegando rápida y coherente.

«She had told me to be critical, to weigh and measure any script I might obtain.» — y la regla que la consejera le había dado y que el script pone en el centro de este episodio: ser crítica y pesar y medir lo que obtuviera.

«I noted that the words seemed to shape in my brain before they were written, but not the sense of the sentences that were written. Still the words coming just beforehand to me seemed not at all as it should be, if it was a communication from Fred or anyone else.» — la observación con que la voz dice haberse desengañado: que las palabras se le formaban en el cerebro antes de escribirse, aunque no el sentido de las frases, y que eso no le cuadraba con una comunicación.

«Was it then, all invention, the invention of a hidden part of my mind? Yes, it seemed that the news in these scripts was too good to be true, though here and there I found a something unexpected, unlike any wish of mine, unlike me.» — y la pregunta que la voz se hace y no cierra, con lo que la sostiene en cada lado: noticias demasiado buenas para ser ciertas, y a la vez algo inesperado que no se parecía a ningún deseo suyo.

«But my critical faculty, now on the alert, led me to feel that Fred was not dictating. So in a fit of disappointment I tore all those scripts up and burnt them.» — y lo que hizo con esos primeros escritos, romperlos y quemarlos, que es lo que Broad recoge en su relato del desarrollo de la mediumnidad.

«I did not ask for news of the Blessed casting down their golden crowns before the glassy sea. I only wanted one light whisper, one sure sign from over the» — lo que la voz dice haber pedido en aquel invierno, no la visión de los bienaventurados sino un solo susurro seguro; el tramo se corta donde el troceo reemite la plana.

«I felt someone unseen very disapproving close to me talking, lecturing me. Soon I knew for a certainty that it was Fred scolding me for my crazy fear for my George. Oh, he was so pressing in his urging me to have faith and not be gloomy and anxious any more.» — el episodio que el script da por primera experiencia directa: una presencia invisible que la reprende a la mesa por su miedo por el hijo enfermo.

«It was the first time, apart from my automatic writing attempts, I had the direct sense of the presence of the so-called dead and of urgent speech from one I knew well.» — y así lo fecha la propia voz dentro del relato, primera vez con sentido directo de presencia y de habla urgente de un muerto conocido, aparte de los intentos de escritura.

«I only tell you of this episode in my life because it happened to be the turning point for me. After that I had confidence in my automatic writing and in certain impressions conveyed to me mentally and sometimes unexpectedly.» — del script diecinueve: la voz declara por qué cuenta ese episodio, por ser el punto de giro tras el cual tuvo confianza en su escritura automática y en las impresiones que le llegaban.

«In 1909 I gave birth to Alex and rebirth to my psychic faculty» — y la fórmula con que la voz cierra ese relato, juntando el nacimiento del hijo y el renacer de la facultad psíquica en un mismo año.

«I note with amusement that in my son’s letter to you, G.C., he puts “Winifred” and my pseudonym, “Mrs. Willett”, thus in inverted commas. Dear “Henry Augustus”, I return the compliment» — del script veinte: la voz devuelve al hijo las comillas con que él escribe sus nombres, que es el pulso del libro entero convertido en broma.

«Is “Henry Augustus’’ myth or legend, or is he a dream I dreamt in my infancy long ago? Dream or reality, I love him still» — y hasta dónde lleva esa devolución, poniendo en duda la existencia del hijo con la misma puntuación.

«I used, when I was young, to think that the prayer in our prayer-book to deliver us from sudden death an odd and mistaken supplication. It was one in which I never joined» — del script veinte: la voz cuenta una práctica religiosa suya que después cambió, omitir la súplica contra la muerte súbita.

«But the sudden death of my darling in 1908 gave me such mental pain, such a shock, I always afterwards joined in that supplication to deliver us from sudden death.» — y lo que le hizo cambiar de parecer, que es el mismo suceso del que el libro hace el origen de todo.

«Yet the loss of my treasure then was also my great gain. It led me for the first time to become a thinking person, seriously to ponder, and I had time, to read about the mystery of life and death.» — la lectura que la voz hace de esa pérdida, pérdida y ganancia a la vez, porque la hizo persona pensante por primera vez.

«My reading led me nowhere, but V. Portia led me somewhere. She made me an eager explorer, as eager as was any participant in the ancient Greek mysteries.» — y el símil con que nombra lo que esa consejera hizo de ella, exploradora tan ávida como un participante en los misterios antiguos.

«But I did not go in for any elaborate practices or preparations. How could I? I had various duties, a husband, a son, a household to look after.» — y el límite que la voz pone en la misma frase, que es el de una mujer de su clase y su tiempo: nada de prácticas ni preparaciones elaboradas.

«After that I certainly did not put his name in inverted commas. He was real, he was beside me, in spite of being invisible to my eyes.» — y cómo la voz cierra esa devolución de comillas, declarando real y presente al comunicador aunque invisible.

«The pressure from the other side of the invisible presences was more con¬ tinuous than I ever dared to admit to anyone.» — la medida que la voz da de esa presión, más continua de lo que nunca se atrevió a admitir.

«In earlier years there was a woman he deeply loved. But she was taken away from him. Unfortunately for him and Eveleen. The allegiance of his heart was irrevocably given to her.» — del script veinte, el asunto de familia que el aparato después coteja: un amor anterior de su cuñado al que, dice la voz, quedó irrevocablemente entregada su lealtad.

«She fenced him round with her jealousy and her fear of living women led her to be always on the alert and at times very suspicious.» — y el retrato de la viuda que el script hace, con los celos como cerca y la alerta ante las mujeres vivas.

«So Fred advised a pseudonym for me. He urged it, or at least secrecy, if, as he prophesied, I was to carry out important work for him.» — del script veinte, la razón que la voz da del seudónimo bajo el que figura en la literatura del asunto: un consejo del propio comunicador, por lo que venía en su familia.

«An automatist is usually over sensitive and has to guard herself against other people’s angry, passionatedriven thoughts. The thoughts are more dangerous than any row face to face, as you will no doubt understand, G.C.» — y la razón general que añade, dirigida a la automatista como a una colega de oficio: que los pensamientos airados ajenos son más peligrosos que una riña de frente.

«Of course the ordinary citizen will dismiss the statement I wrote on the last occasion about “the inception” of my work. He will say that bereavement led “Winifred” to become temporarily insane.» — del script veintiuno: la voz se pone de antemano la objeción que espera del lector corriente, la locura pasajera por duelo.

«But unlike the mad I heard no voice or voices with my ears when Fred, at the awkward moment when I was dining, addressed me with such compelling vehemence.» — y la distinción con que la responde, que es de procedimiento y no de doctrina: no oyó voces con los oídos.

«Yet during that period I behaved with normal mediocre sanity in my public and private work. My remarks made when I sat on the Magistrate’s Bench later were treated with respect as the utterances of a mature, experienced woman» — el segundo argumento de la voz contra la objeción de locura, su propia conducta pública durante esos mismos años.

«But I had to protect myself against the allegation of insanity, and this was another reason for my adopting the pseudonym of Willett.» — y la tercera razón que la voz da del seudónimo, distinta de las dos anteriores: protegerse de la imputación de locura.

«There was for me no sense of impatience, of urgency. All was calm. Yet I felt Gurney’s nearness, though I had no visible sense of him.» — del script veintiuno: la voz distingue a sus dos comunicadores por la manera y no por el contenido, la impaciencia de uno y la calma del otro.

«He was as completely real as he would be to a blind woman on whom he was paying an afternoon call» — y el símil con que describe esa presencia sin imagen, que el aparato después rastrea hasta el estudio anterior.

«It was somewhat surprising to me to learn that the unseen visitor was no visitor but a permanent companion.» — lo que la voz dice haberle sorprendido, que el visitante invisible se declarara compañero permanente y no visita.

«Both Gurney and Fred haunted that unconscious part of my mind, preparing it, training it for the inception of scholarly words not in my conscious memory» — la doctrina del adiestramiento que el script enuncia: los comunicadores rondando esa parte inconsciente para prepararla a recibir palabras eruditas que no estaban en la memoria consciente.

«As a rule the communicator depends to a great extent on the automatist’s memory centre for words and sentences. Words not in it can only be registered so as to create familiarity with them in her subliminal or submerged mind.» — y la regla general que la sostiene: el comunicador depende del centro de memoria de la automatista, y lo que no está ahí solo puede registrarse para hacerlo familiar a la mente sumergida.

«The greater number my subliminal mind failed to retrieve from the depths and push up to the surface.» — y el resultado que la voz declara de ese procedimiento, que es en su mayor parte fallo.

«the word or words unknown, the unknown surname of Christian name come in the' form of sound images to a medium’s inner hearing.» — la mecánica con que el script dice que llega una palabra desconocida, como imagen sonora al oído interno.

«She is like a reporter for a newspaper. It is extremely difficult for a reporter to take down words in a foreign language unknown to him. It is even more so for a medium.» — y el símil con que mide esa dificultad, el reportero que ha de tomar palabras en una lengua que no sabe.

«I swear to you, “Henry”, I was my ordinary self, not in the least excited and I was fully awake.» — la insistencia de la voz sobre su propio estado en aquel primer episodio, ordinaria y despierta y no exaltada.

«Indeed I have been in close touch with you whenever you were alone. I can’t hold on properly when you are with people on your own level.» — del script veintiuno: la voz aplica ese mismo método a la automatista de ahora y dice cuándo no puede sostenerlo, cuando ella está acompañada.

«Well, human beings are all story-tellers and produce some excreable [execrable^ fiction about themselves at times, and in all sincerity I should like you to be less silent, to make replies to me.» — la respuesta de la voz cuando la automatista confiesa haber sospechado de su propia invención: concede que todos son fabuladores y pide conversación en vez de silencio; el troceo imprime excreable por execrable.

«Stuff and nonsense! There must be give and take, if there is to be good conversation. I had many talks never recorded with the select few who singly honoured me with their presence in the house of my mind. I, after the first nervousness had worn away, made the visitor listen to me, and I had control of the situation.» — y cómo describe la voz su propio trato con los comunicadores en vida, con la casa de la mente por escenario y ella al mando.

«When intelligent human beings are less primitive, they will acquire my method and frequently have telepathized talks either with distantly placed human beings or, in more rarified condi¬ tions, with their dead.» — la previsión que el script hace de ese método, conversaciones telepatizadas con los vivos lejanos o, en condiciones más rarificadas, con los muertos.

«In the latter case it requires solitude and ease of mind for the deep concentration that is needed to pick up accurately what the visitor is saying.» — y las condiciones que pone para lo segundo, soledad y sosiego para la concentración honda.

«In a long lifetime the permanent self is always in residence and is as the axle in a wheel round which revolve the spokes, each spoke that superficial thing, a different human personality, but all of them dependent on the axle» — del script veintidós: la doctrina de los yoes sucesivos con otra figura, el eje de la rueda y los radios, cada radio una personalidad humana distinta.

«If a spoke is cracked or breaks, it may be likened either to a neurosis, an obsession, or, when there’s a break, a form of lunacy that invades a man or woman.» — y lo que esa figura permite decir de la enfermedad mental, el radio agrietado o roto por neurosis, obsesión o locura.

«So though I am sitting in judgment on my selves as I study the revolving film of memory, I respond again to the emotions of each past personality.» — y la posición desde la que el script dice hablar, juzgar los propios yoes y a la vez responder otra vez a las emociones de cada uno.

«A friend telling me that I was very French in my manner and appearance. I took it as a pretty compliment—she meant it as the reverse of one—and warmly embraced her. Oh! she was so taken aback at what was intended as a depreciatory gibe being received with such a spontaneous expression of joy! But the intended gibe temporarily gave real reassurance, as I was pain¬ fully concious of the disfigurement of being very stout!» — del script veintidós, la escena que la voz elige de su juventud: la pulla tomada por cumplido y la conciencia dolorosa de la propia gordura.

«It quite possibly hurried on my courtship and marriage by increasing my wish to be married to a man much older than myself. Charles was safety and middle age. A safe and affable companion I sought. There is no safety in the too attractive, handsome young man.» — y la lectura que la voz hace de su propio matrimonio a partir de esa incomodidad, con la reserva de un muy posiblemente.

«But I allude to this physical fact because for one who is an automatist or medium, it is useful to be comfortably covered. When jouncing in supernal worlds one is less exhausted, there is less likelihood of injury or illness from exhaustion, the depletion of reserves attendant on the raising of oneself to another vibration.» — del script veintidós: la voz da una razón de oficio para hablar de su propia corpulencia, que a una automatista le convenga ir bien cubierta por el desgaste de lo que llama elevarse a otra vibración.

«There are two kinds of dreaming, one the grotesque, ugly Freudian kingdom of dreams in sleep, the other the wide-awake dreaming in a garden hammock.» — la distinción que el script hace entre dos ensueños, el del sueño dormido con el nombre de su escuela y el despierto de la hamaca.

«The latter kind of dreaming during my country-house hours in the hammock was training me, though I knew it not, for my subsequent sittings as an automatist. It meant suspension of one’s conscious mind and the flow-in of fancy that maybe was other world life, so rich, so strange was it.» — y lo que el script atribuye al segundo, ser el adiestramiento que sin saberlo la preparó para sus sesiones, por la suspensión de la mente consciente y el flujo de fantasía.

«But the practice of reading poetry or in fact reading discriminately has now almost vanished, I believe; yet it is a far better education than that of listening to the modern vociferous machines, or more unfortunately staring for hours at the procession of ugly little photographs exhibited on television sets.» — del script veintidós, el juicio de época de la voz sobre lo que sustituyó a la lectura, con el desdén por la radio y la televisión dicho con sus propias palabras.

«Indeed, I lived too long on our small planet. Now £thafi] I am in the course of reviewing my past, I am trying to find out why I was condemned to such a long term of imprisonment in such cramped surroundings» — y la fórmula con que la voz mira su propia vejez, una larga condena en un lugar estrecho cuya razón dice estar buscando.

«Vast is the extent of our universes invisible to man’s senses. Glorious the fields of vision I may some day be permitted to explore. Meantime I am doing what the schoolgirl calls her homework, reviewing my past minute life on earth.» — y lo que dice estar haciendo mientras tanto, la tarea escolar de repasar su vida terrena antes de los campos de visión que espera explorar.

«I perceive again the hilly road leading to the mountains. Not a tree breaks the barrenness of those hills, big and wild, short green grass clothing them and in their hollows graze sheep and black cattle. ‘The road winds parapeted above the ravines. The intense silence is impressive. It is broken gradually by a peasant singing in Welsh—a distant sound, then clear—down the wind comes drifting that wistful lilt of song.» — del script veintitrés: el paisaje galés visto en la revivencia, con el canto del campesino que rompe el silencio.

«Then I likened Idris, or another greyer, darker, to some huge old Druid capable with his knife of making blood sacrifices, epitome of savage nature, but with a certain primitive noble air.» — y la figura con que la voz nombra la montaña en tormenta, un druida capaz de hacer sacrificios de sangre, epítome de naturaleza salvaje.

«In contrast the Gloucestershire scene might be likened to a pretty very feminine woman, gentle and sweet. I have seen my Welsh mountains in all moods. I preferred their masculinity,» — y la oposición que el script arma entre los dos paisajes, uno femenino y otro masculino, con la preferencia declarada.

«But there were towns in Wales and more especially Swansea an ugliness of architecture! Little grey houses, rows of them, grey chapel, greyness and grimness. I see them still.» — y lo que la voz opone a ese paisaje, la fealdad gris de las ciudades galesas, que es el mismo motivo de sus trabajos por las artes.

«Yes, I had a restless nature. Flats in London, its social life, and my country house in Wales. My nature required that contrast.» — del script veintitrés: el retrato que la voz hace de su propio temperamento por el contraste que necesitaba entre campo y ciudad.

«Oh, it is so difficult to be correct in one’s statements, to be honest with one’s self and others! All unconsciously mis¬ statements slip out. In the Bible one of the most comforting and reassuring passages for me was contained in that episode in which St. Peter told lies before the cock crew.» — la dificultad que la voz declara sobre la exactitud de los propios dichos, con el pasaje bíblico que dice haberle servido de consuelo.

«Thus experience gave me an overstrained conscience—a deep fear of myself that came uppermost during the period I gave sittings to others and was examined or questioned about them by an investigator afterwards.» — y adónde lleva esa dificultad en el oficio: una conciencia excesiva y un miedo de sí que le salía justo cuando el investigador la interrogaba después de una sesión.

«The daze only gradually wore off'. It was not a time in which to tell the exact truth, when indeed one wasn’t collected enough to know it.» — la acotación que el script pone al valor de esos interrogatorios, que no era momento de decir la verdad exacta porque no se estaba en condición de saberla.

«Again how difficult to tell the exact truth about a past, mist-robed experience. After all, Pontius Pilate wrote: “What is truth?” The wisest man on earth does not know it.’» — y la cita con que el script veintitrés cierra, atribuida a quien la pregunta en el evangelio, con la enmienda de que fue escrita y no dicha.

«I wanted to amuse myself with my serial for a Woman’s Journal, and lo! I find myself ordered again into the witness box by my Judge. Pray give me a few moments in which to shift the direction of my thoughts.» — del script veinticuatro: la voz se queja de que la saquen de su relato y la devuelvan al banquillo, con la figura judicial ya fijada.

«Fred, my brother-in-law, wrote in that fateful year of 1909 that he was going to make me hear without my writing. Later I would receive these impressions without pencil or pen in my hand. I must speak them, or I could write them down in notes afterwards.» — y el cambio de procedimiento que la voz atribuye a su comunicador en 1909, oír sin escribir y hablar o anotar después, que es el paso de la escritura automática al habla en trance.

«But when two minds attempt to play upon one machine, the physical brain, the process may be described as “nearer than hands and feet”, nearer than any physical nearness.» — del script veinticuatro: la figura con que la voz describe la cercanía del comunicador, dos mentes tocando una misma máquina, el cerebro físico.

«For in everyday life the instrument the human mind uses is what I can only call the brain of her subtle body. The latter is, I believe, something that is semi-physical and is invisible to the physical senses.» — la doctrina del cuerpo sutil que el script enuncia: que el instrumento de la mente no es el cerebro físico sino el de un cuerpo semifísico e invisible a los sentidos.

«One’s real mind works through the liaison officer and not directly on the brain machine.» — y la figura con que nombra a ese intermediario, oficial de enlace, que es la misma que un script anterior aplicaba a la comunicadora.

«There is in fact a subtle distinction between the subtle body, the instrument and the physical body, the machine.» — y la distinción de tres términos con que el script cierra esa doctrina, cuerpo sutil, instrumento y máquina.

«I may add that once a human being has acquired a habit, the physical brain can go on repeating it without any direction from the mind working through the vibratory instrument. This explains a number of cases of abnormality among human beings and certain character contradictions in the case of normal people.» — y lo que el script explica con esa doctrina: el cerebro repitiendo un hábito sin dirección de la mente, de donde saldrían anormalidades y contradicciones de carácter.

«I closed my eyes and then the com¬ municator began to use my instrument, my organ, pulled out the stops, as it were, took control, and my lips spoke the message.» — la descripción que el script hace de la primera sesión hablada, con la figura del órgano y sus registros para el paso al control.

«The reactionary play on my brain of the previous nerve storm led it to go on feebly, owing to the repetition habit motif I have previously mentioned. So the message spoken was hesitant and it was not a good sitting.» — y el juicio que la voz hace de esa sesión, explicando su fracaso por el motivo del hábito de repetición que acababa de enunciar.

«I received a message from Fred in writing, in which he said that he was pleased with the experi¬ ment, and he reassured me by saying that he would not repeat it or attempt to repeat it, until a very much later date.» — y lo que dice haber recibido al día siguiente, una promesa de aplazamiento; el script consigna su propio alivio en la frase que sigue.

«He spoke very appreciatively of my brother-in-law Fred, and of the greatness of his work, and of the need for people psychically gifted, who were of good standing and repute, to devote time to experiments in order to follow up and develop his pioneer work.» — del script veinticuatro: lo que el científico le dijo en el primer encuentro, con el argumento de que hicieran falta personas psíquicamente dotadas y de buena reputación.

«On this occasion Sir Oliver made me feel that it was my duty to keep the door open to my com¬ municators and some time later—oh, I hoped much later, obey their request and give sittings to this great scientist.» — y el efecto que eso tuvo según la voz, el deber de tener la puerta abierta a sus comunicadores.

«It was not fear of failure but rather another fear that dominated me at that time—that made me put experiments with a critical investigator on the long finger.» — y la corrección que la voz hace sobre su propia reticencia, que no era miedo al fracaso sino otro miedo.

«Occasionally, when I was fully conscious, mentally alert, I received these impressions from communicators. If there was a pencil by me, I used to scribble them down. They came at odd times and sometimes at moments, when it was not possible to make a note of them.» — del script veinticinco: la voz describe la primera de las dos clases de comunicación que va a distinguir, impresiones recibidas plenamente consciente y alerta.

«Fred gave these mental impressions a name. You may, G.C., have heard of that event, D.Day. A surprise attack if ever there was one. The first mental impression from Fred was a surprise attack. When he gave me good news about my son George’s health. Now, liken that to D.Day and you have the name D.Day impressions, or D.D.I., for these mental impressions received by me from communicators» — y el nombre que el script les pone, armado con una fecha de guerra que la automatista sí conoce; el aparato registra después que el término del estudio anterior era otro.

«I shall call what was spoken by me at sittings “Night Impressions’’, for at first, and indeed for some time, they were rather a nightmare to me, more particularly when I gave further sittings to Mrs. V., and I began my sittings with Sir Oliver.» — y el nombre que el script pone a la segunda clase, con la razón dicha en la misma frase, que al principio le eran una pesadilla.

«She removed almost all my fears and also gave good advice, told me to let myself go more. I was still too much on the alert. If I would sink my ego more and not keep asserting myself, conversing too much writh the communicators as they came along, she believed that I would get remarkable results. It wouldn’t hurt me to suppress my ego.» — del script veinticinco: el consejo de la consejera que el script tiene por decisivo, hundir el yo y dejar de conversar tanto con los comunicadores.

«In other words what I had begun to experience in my D.D.I.’s a kind of drowsiness crept over me. I became as it were so remote my ego did not register the words my communicators spoke through me.» — y el estado que la voz describe como resultado, una somnolencia en que el yo no registraba las palabras que se decían por ella.

«But what had been my dominant fear, that of going unconscious, did not occur. Perhaps my state was that of the sleeper who in the morning is awake and not awake. Words go through his mind but have little or no meaning for him.» — y el límite que la voz pone a ese estado, con el símil del que despierta y no despierta: no llegó a perder la consciencia, que era su miedo dominante.

«But these first experiences were like a bridge thrown across a chasm. For they alleviated my dominant fear—that of falling into the chasm—in other words of going unconscious, when the communicators were speaking through me.» — del script veinticinco: la figura con que la voz mide lo que ganó en esas primeras sesiones, un puente sobre el abismo de perder la consciencia.

«I never cared to confess this, my craven fear. But after all there was some justification for it. I had my duties to others. I was a wife and a mother; I had many other interests and I loved life.» — y las razones que da de ese miedo, que no son doctrinales sino de vida, deberes con otros y gusto por vivir.

«But worst of all for me would have been a state of un¬ consciousness when I was giving N.I., Night Impressions— that is to say speaking communications with someone present. Oh! it might have been reported of me. Can you ever quite trust anyone? Besides, once initiated, unconsciousness was likely to happen again» — y por qué el miedo era peor con testigo delante, con la desconfianza dicha en una pregunta.

«I used to begin an N.I. sitting with automatic writing (4). I think I may confess now that this was deliberate, for I was more wide awake holding a pencil or a pen. No danger then of possession.» — la maniobra que la voz confiesa haber hecho a propósito, empezar escribiendo para estar más despierta y no arriesgar lo que llama posesión.

«But my communicators preferred the spoken communications. This was doubtless because they found it easier to convey evidence in that way for of course I was less alert in that condition, so I was compelled by them to drop the pencil and speak in the latter part of the sitting in most cases.» — y lo que se le oponía, la preferencia de los comunicadores por lo hablado justamente porque ella estaba menos alerta.

«I had to help to start things or keep them going—like winding up a gramophone, perhaps. Or let me put it in another way. I had the habit of an experienced hostess of greeting and talking to my guests. Englishmen especially have at first to be encouraged to talk. Can you imagine them filing into a drawing¬ room and conversing with a dumb hostess?» — del script veintiséis: la voz explica por qué hablaba durante las sesiones con el hábito de una anfitriona, que es el rasgo que otro script ya le había atribuido.

«It paid in my sittings to carry on this hostess habit—drew my two or three communicators near to me and was productive of evidence.» — y lo que el script atribuye a ese hábito, acercar a los comunicadores y producir evidencia.

«The difference between my supernal conversations and a conversation in which both parties are visible to each other on the material plane is that in my sittings I had to repeat their remarks to me aloud for the benefit of the sitter» — la diferencia que el script señala entre una conversación ordinaria y una sesión, que ella tenía que repetir en voz alta lo que le decían.

«You will, I hope, pardon me for saying that you appear to have the mind of a typist secretary. When I try to give you D.D.I. messages, as you move about, you look attentive and sometimes, as I did, you make a note of a remark or two of mine, but you do not make a comment or in any way reply to me.’» — y el reproche que la voz dirige a la automatista de ahora, comparándola con una secretaria mecanógrafa que no responde.

«I did not like Professor Sidgwick because I found him dull—too erudite. He did not seem to realize that I was not another University Don. He did try hard on occasions to converse with me, but often his remarks were too complex for me to grasp in order to repeat them to my sitter.» — del script veintiséis: la voz explica por qué uno de los comunicadores dejó de serlo, con el desaire dicho sin adorno y la razón práctica, que no podía repetir lo que él decía.

«There are grades of mind—ranges of varying depth. Though timid at first, I soon found it of intense interest to strive to reach the depths or heights of the mind conditions of these very intelligent men of an invisible company.» — la doctrina de los grados de mente que el script enuncia y el trabajo que la voz se atribuye, alcanzar las profundidades o alturas de esas mentes.

«But I may say that those early experimants with Sir Oliver Lodge made me feel the more assured of their reality, because he spoke of them as if they were present in the flesh.» — y qué la convenció de la realidad de esos comunicadores según el script, que el científico les hablara como si estuvieran presentes en carne.

«But a part of that fear was lest people should learn of my N.I. conversations. Hearing of them, the average individual would, for a certainty, have regarded me as insane or most unpleasantly odd. Later on my public work would have become impossible, as I would have been regarded as a quite irrespon¬ sible person, incapable of sober judgment. I did not even dare to tell my son Alex about it. I could have trusted him to be discreet. But what would he have thought of me? Hence my secretiveness.» — la razón del secreto vuelta a decir en el script veintiséis, con el cálculo entero: pasar por loca, quedar por irresponsable y perder la vida pública.

«But Sir Oliver answered this objection—said that I had appeared quite dazed in one of the sittings I gave him, but that he realized it was a natural condi¬ tion, attendant on the supreme effort I was making. “After all,” he jested, “when a champion makes a world record in a race, you do not think the worst of him for gasping, speechless condition after it.”» — la broma del científico con que el script despacha el miedo al aturdimiento, comparándolo con el jadeo de un corredor tras un récord.

«Well, St. Teresa was, like myself, an automatist, and this did not deter, but in fact rather stimulated the Cardinals to canonize her!» — del script veintiséis: la voz busca precedente para su propio oficio en una santa, con la ironía sobre los cardenales; el aparato registra después una entrada de diario que liga a la comunicadora con esa devoción.

«If my little girl DafFhad not died in 1908, I would not have knocked at the Door. I would never have sought to develop my inner hearing, my psychic gift.» — la causa que la voz vuelve a dar de todo el asunto, la muerte de la hija, con la figura de llamar a la puerta; el troceo funde DafF y had.

«That death turned a worldly woman into a questioning one— later a seeker for truth through scientific experiment, then at deepest in the various ranges I explored, a mystic» — y el itinerario que la voz se atribuye a partir de ahí, de mundana a preguntona, de ahí a buscadora por experimento científico y al fondo mística.

«All self delusion, it may be said. But it enriched my life more than I can tell you in words.» — la voz se pone a sí misma la objeción del autoengaño y no la responde: dice solo lo que aquello enriqueció su vida.

«I deliberately told white lies with a good conscience when I with much regret refused someone’s unspeakably boring invitation.» — del script veintisiete: la voz separa la mentira piadosa que admitía de la inexactitud que la atormentaba, que es lo que va a examinar.

«At sittings, even in those early ones with Sir Oliver in charge, I would get very drowsy. Later, with G.B. present, ^Gerald Balfour^ I, at times, became completely stupefied and was not my conscious self for quite a little while after the sitting.» — el estado en que la voz dice quedar después de una sesión, somnoliento con un asistente y estupefacto con el otro.

«No doubt my condition was due to what Mrs. V. called the suppression of the ego during the sitting. So I could not remember after the experiment what had been said or written at it» — y la causa que le atribuye, la supresión del yo que la consejera le había aconsejado, con la amnesia por consecuencia.

«So, when questioned by Sir O. or G.B., I replied that I did not remember anything that had been communicated. It was the truth at the time.» — y lo que respondía entonces al investigador, con la acotación que la voz añade sobre el valor de esa respuesta.

«But on several occasions, perhaps a day or so later, I would recall some fragmentary impression of the content of the sitting. It may have been a mistaken recollection. It came like an echo and soon left me.» — y lo que venía después, un recuerdo fragmentario como un eco, que la voz misma marca como posiblemente equivocado.

«It was a kind of lying not to have reported it to the investigator, for ours were scientifically conducted experiments —that is, a search for the exact truth, so far as it could be obtained.» — y el escrúpulo que la voz se imputa por no haberlo reportado, medido contra lo que el experimento pretendía ser, una búsqueda de la verdad exacta.

«You must understand that the experience of these sittings was exciting for me. One might describe it as a heightened life. The emotional memory of the experience remained with me, but so very often the details, the words, vanished from my memory» — la fórmula con que la voz nombra lo que era una sesión para ella, una vida intensificada cuyo recuerdo emocional quedaba y cuyas palabras se iban.

«The communicators arranged the whole procedure. I now know that they led me to begin with automatic writing in order to quieten me down—to suspend my conscious critical self.» — del script veintiocho: la doctrina del procedimiento vista desde el otro lado, la escritura automática como medio de aquietarla y suspender el yo crítico.

«It was those conversations that mostly provided what was evidentially valuable, as they have told me since I met them after my death.» — y lo que el script atribuye a la parte hablada, ser la que daba lo valioso como evidencia, con la fuente de ese saber declarada, los propios comunicadores tras su muerte.

«With my conscious critical self suspended, it did not of course remember the evidence given, so could not spoil or interfere by building upon it in further sittings.» — y la razón de método que el script da de esa suspensión, que el yo crítico no recordara la evidencia y no pudiera edificar sobre ella en sesiones posteriores.

«But my hostess habit had sunk deeper into my subliminal and my secondary self used the habit and talked in these higher level conversations with my unseen guests. That is now Gerald’s view.» — y qué hablaba entonces según el script, un yo secundario que había heredado el hábito de anfitriona, con la atribución de esa lectura a otra voz.

«I do not know if secondary self is an apt term for that emotional part of my subliminal mind. But I can find no other words for it.» — y la reserva que la propia voz pone sobre ese término, que no sabe si es el apropiado y no halla otro.

«I just know it isn’t me that produces the writing, but I think I remained more alert than you did. But I do get stupefied at times.)» — la automatista responde dentro del script veintisiete con lo único que declara saber de su propio oficio, que la escritura no sale de ella, y con la diferencia que se ve frente a la comunicadora.

«As a sitter Gerald B. was remarkable, because he was all walled-in, as it were. Never by word or manner did he give anything away that might be informative to me.» — del script veintiocho: el retrato del asistente ideal según la voz, que es un retrato de protocolo, no dar nada por palabra ni por gesto.

«But the fact I have recently realized is that O.L. and Gerald’s subliminal minds were in the same mental worlds as that of the com¬ municators—a fact of more importance than is generally recognized.» — la tesis que el script sostiene sobre los asistentes: que sus mentes subliminales estaban en los mismos mundos mentales que los comunicadores, y que eso importa más de lo que se reconoce.

«Thus during an experiment in each case their subliminal mind [Yninds?3 helped to uphold me as one swimmer will uphold another in the sea of what is called the Unconscious Mind or Mind at large.» — y la figura con que lo dice, un nadador que sostiene a otro en el mar de la mente inconsciente o mente en general.

«Even temporary belief on the part of the sitter and automatist in the personality of the communicators is a vital part of the conditions. It makes it so much easier for them to work.» — la condición que el script pone por vital, que el asistente y la automatista crean, aunque sea temporalmente, en la personalidad de los comunicadores.

«Gerald’s intellect happened to be wholly sceptical, but his imagination was not. It could clearly conceive a situation his intellect did not admit, for imagination has its roots in the subliminal mind.» — y cómo el script resuelve el caso del asistente escéptico, separando intelecto e imaginación y poniendo a esta última en la mente subliminal.

«The subliminal mind of the automatist might be likened to the earth in which here and there are sown the seeds of real evidence. That subliminal produces many weeds that have to be discarded.» — del script veintiocho: la figura con que la voz concede que mucho de los scripts se descarte, la tierra sembrada donde también salen malas hierbas.

«The opposite to Gerald and O.L. is the egocentric sitter who has a deep-seated complex, such as a repressed horror of death, or inordinate vanity that derives from an insecurity fear.» — y el retrato del asistente inútil, por complejo reprimido ante la muerte o por vanidad nacida del miedo a la inseguridad.

«Another quite useless investigator is very much a creature of his physiological brain patterns. Communicators are cut off through his being cut off from his subliminal, and through a paralysing emanation from him.» — y el segundo tipo inútil, el investigador cortado de su propia mente subliminal, del que el script dice que emana algo paralizante.

«To sum up, the Mrs. V.'s, G.B.’s and O.L.’s concentrated subliminal power became allied with the communicators. Or, I should rather say, held the nice balance of successful sittings much as an efficient chairman holds a meeting together.» — el resumen que el script hace de la función del asistente, con la figura del presidente eficaz que sostiene una reunión.

«But when all went well and I was deeply in trance, I became partly identified with the communicator. It seemed as if some¬ body else was me, as if a stranger was occupying my body, as if another’s mind was in me» — la descripción que el script da del trance hondo, identificación parcial con el comunicador y un extraño ocupando el cuerpo.

«You may, G.C., mock at me as being abnormal, hysterical, when I say that it seemed as if, lifted up on wings, I was in a state in which I understood all things. All were summed up in one and brought to a point. Bliss in such union was mine.» — y la experiencia que la voz llama única, con la reserva puesta por delante: alzada en alas, entendiéndolo todo, con todo sumado en uno y llevado a un punto.

«There are many ranges of different depths for the mind or soul. That brief experience, when all was summed up as one, was the effect of Fred’s mind flowing into mine.» — y la explicación que el script da de esa experiencia, la mente de un comunicador fluyendo en la suya.

«The human being’s soul belongs to, or is derived from, a Group Soul, which is inspired by one spirit (3). If we make progress in the after-death, we become more and more aware of this Group Soul. It is more than a brotherhood, it is organic, an organized psychic or spiritual structure. Its spirit is the bond that holds together a number of souls.» — la doctrina del alma de grupo, que es la más desarrollada del libro: el alma individual derivada de un alma de grupo inspirada por un espíritu, estructura orgánica y no hermandad.

«The spirit might be described as a thought of God, or the Light from Above—the Creative Light from Above. It has an apartness from God, as is the created thing from the One who gave it life.» — y qué es ese espíritu según el script, un pensamiento de Dios o la luz creadora de arriba, con una apartidad respecto de Dios como la de lo creado respecto de quien le dio vida.

«As we evolve in the Hereafter, we individual units enter into the memories and experiences of other lives' that are derived from the earthly and other existences of the souls that preceded and are of our Group. It is not, therefore, necessary to reincarnate, as Buddhists and Theosophists—I believe— claim, hundreds of times on earth.» — la consecuencia que el script saca de esa doctrina, y que es donde se aparta de otras: al entrar en las memorias de las almas anteriores del grupo no hace falta reencarnar cientos de veces, como dice que sostienen budistas y teósofos.

«A number of human beings who have mystical experiences assert that in those ecstatic moments, they have obtained union with, or absorption into, Deity. Actually it has been usually union with the spirit of their Group Soul.» — y la relectura que el script hace de la experiencia mística ajena: lo que se toma por unión con la divinidad sería unión con el espíritu del alma de grupo.

«What I have written so far about my experiments might be described as a posthumous survey of my memories of them, in the light of my increased knowledge. But I have endeavoured to review them in my role as magistrate.» — del script veintinueve: la voz califica su propio trabajo de estudio póstumo de sus memorias a la luz de un saber mayor, hecho desde el papel de magistrada.

«One man or one woman is a company of players, their life a tragedy or tragic comedy, or even a farce. But it is a play in which one human being acts all the parts in one sense. Supposing a cast of seven players. The central character is the primary or dominant self. The other six characters are aspects or units of the primary self.» — y la enmienda: una sola persona es una compañía de actores, con un yo primario de personaje central y los demás por aspectos o unidades suyas.

«So how can my son or anyone else know me, when they review these scripts which I am communicating? For it is not always the primary or dominant self that expresses itself.» — y la consecuencia que saca para la lectura de estos mismos scripts: que no siempre habla el yo dominante, de modo que nadie conoce a la persona entera por ellos.

«But during those first years of the century this militant movement began, through a lighting up here and there among women all over the country, even in remote isolated places, far from halls and speakers.» — del script veintinueve: la figura con que la voz describe el arranque del movimiento de mujeres, un encenderse aquí y allá por todo el país lejos de discursos.

«It was a spiritual movement and had fire’ It released great stores of unconscious energy.”» — y la fórmula que la voz atribuye a una amiga suya sobre ese movimiento, que lo llama espiritual y le atribuye liberar reservas de energía inconsciente.

«her book Prisons and Prisoners, which I read, I think, three or four months before the outbreak of the First World War, was one of the important books in my life, because it moved me so deeply, with its grim truths about the harsh, utterly stupid treatment meted out to women prisoners.» — el libro que la voz señala como uno de los decisivos de su vida y por qué, por sus verdades crudas sobre el trato a las presas.

«It roused me to furious thinking and the material in it illuminated my road later in my public work for women.» — y lo que ese libro le hizo según la voz, que es lo que enlaza su vida pública con este relato.

«Her heroism cannot of course be realized by your generation, G.C. What it cost her in pain and fortitude to break out from the sheltered life of a late Victorian lady, belonging to an exclusive class near the throne, and go to prison for her spiritual beliefs can only be realized by women who lived that life in her class, and now all such women are among the living dead.» — la voz mide lo que le costó a esa mujer romper con su clase y añade quién puede medirlo, con la fórmula que el libro usa para los muertos.

«Today her unit or character in Winifred’s company of players has been expressing itself.» — y la voz aplica a este mismo script su doctrina de la compañía de actores, declarando cuál de sus unidades ha estado hablando.

«In the first place, any evidence of my identity, and memories of my last years conveyed, would by learned men be attributed to telaesthesia» — del script veintinueve: la primera razón que la voz da para no escribir de sus últimos años, y es una razón de método evidencial, que se le atribuiría a telestesia.

«Alleged telepathy between two human beings’ minds would not in any way establish my surviving identity, demonstrate to Henry that at least some fragment of his mother still exists. Thus, my principal object in dictating to my reporter, G.C., the automatist, would be defeated.» — y el paso siguiente del razonamiento: la telepatía alegada entre vivos no daría por sentada su identidad sobreviviente y frustraría su objeto principal.

«So I must write of events that moulded me and took place before Henry was born, so firm in his belief in his and the automatist’s telepathic powers!» — y la regla que la voz se impone en consecuencia, escribir solo de lo anterior al nacimiento de su hijo.

«Also in the drama of one’s earlier life come highly emotional memories that cut deep grooves in the psychic substance. All passion spent, the memories of old age make very little impression, are faint, and less easy is it for the extramundane self to record the ancient’s trivial round.» — la segunda razón que la voz da, y es de memoria: las memorias de vejez apenas dejan huella en lo que llama la sustancia psíquica.

«For I might wound or hurt someone on earth by describing a family quarrel, or by writing of an indiscretion on the part of a friend or relative, and thus stir up trouble and appear treacherous.» — la tercera razón, que es de discreción con los vivos, y que la voz ata a la continuidad de su vida secreta.

«For in the process of communication there can be what is called mutual selection. In other words, an automatist’s subliminal can and has occasion¬ ally selected facts from the memory of a deceased person and recorded them, and the communicator cannot always prevent such thefts.» — y el peligro técnico que añade: que la mente subliminal de la automatista seleccione hechos de la memoria de un muerto sin que el comunicador pueda impedirlo.

«For the living-dead, those in my circle here, are no longer personally concerned about that fading episode, their life on earth and their past peccadillos.» — y por qué de los muertos sí puede escribir según el script, porque han dejado de preocuparse por su vida terrena.

«But I must first tell you that I knew that Henry was going to write some such letter. My impression of it reinforced my feeling that I would not write about what after all is precious to me as a strange and wonderful experience. For he would only deny it all» — del script treinta: la voz declara haber sabido de antemano lo que el hijo iba a escribirle, que es la coincidencia de fechas que la editora acaba de consignar.

«It was followed by the experience of floating away into a radiance indescribable of pure light. The experience was sublime. Then I remembered my baby, and in my dream I heard it crying.» — del script treinta: la primera parte de la experiencia que la voz relata, el flotar hacia una radiancia de luz pura y el recuerdo del hijo dentro del sueño.

«Inwardly I felt as perhaps in the myth of Orpheus and Euridice, that I had to go down into hell and rescue my darling.» — y el mito con que la voz nombra lo que siguió, un descenso al infierno para rescatar a quien ama.

«And I knew with a certainty that I could, with the extraordinary power of love imparted to me by the pure Light, release you from them, and I sent out such a longing you were able to rise away from them all.» — y la mecánica que el script atribuye a ese rescate, un poder de amor impartido por la luz pura que lo levanta.

«Indeed we were both changed into figures of Light, and together we soared. But always I led, and what seemed to be your hand was in mine.» — y en qué acaba esa transformación según el script, los dos vueltos figuras de luz.

«But I knew then that the only delusion that cannot be eradicated from the human mind is death.» — la sentencia que la voz saca de esa experiencia, y que es la tesis del libro dicha de la manera más corta.

«you did not, any more than a man walking in his sleep, perceive that I was there, I, the awakened one, holding you up, directing you and guiding you in our to me glorious flight.» — y la asimetría que el script consigna dentro de la experiencia, que él no percibía su presencia como un sonámbulo.

«I may be mistaken but, just near the end of my timeless joy, I thought that you knew I was with you, though you were without what is called perception of me, for finally, completely, I felt that we were spiritually one.» — y la reserva que la voz pone sobre su propio relato, con el puede que me equivoque delante.

«I believe that the fear of death, the delusion, pulled you downwards out of true reality into the illusory deceptive mists.» — y la explicación que da del final de la experiencia, el miedo a la muerte tirando hacia abajo.

«Oh! I followed you and lost you in a confusion of dimness and a jangle of discordance, separation, and bits of human minds like wreckage drifting about me.» — la descripción que el script hace del nivel al que descendió, con los trozos de mentes humanas como restos de naufragio.

«He was one of the physically disembodied, but still in his astral shell, so he had obviously died from earth fairly recently.» — y cómo el script clasifica al desconocido con que se topa, todavía en su cáscara astral y por tanto muerto hace poco.

«He listened patiently to all I had to say, and finally replied: “Oh!—No doubt it’s Osmund is the cause of this condition.” It didn’t seem to me likely that beautiful flowering fern had anything to do with you.» — del script treinta, el episodio del médico muerto: la primera palabra que la voz no entiende y que confunde con un helecho.

«He said that yours was possibly a psychedelic condition. I made him repeat that queer word three times, so I think it must be correct, and I got the spelling of it from him.» — y la segunda palabra, que la voz declara no entender y dice haber hecho repetir tres veces para deletrearla.

«The Doctor smiled and said, “No fear of madness. But he had better keep off a rich protein diet, if that is what he is up to. I would recommend to any such person fasting and a light diet.”» — y la receta que el script pone en boca de ese médico, ayuno y dieta ligera frente a una rica en proteína.

«Whatever you may say, I now have realized that your permanent self at any rate was with me for a brief while, nearer than ever before. So that is what matters to me most of all.» — y lo que la voz declara quedarse de toda esa experiencia, que el yo permanente del hijo estuvo con ella, por encima del pleito sobre si existe.

«I refer to my account of my mystical union with the Spirit of my Group Soul and my vision of my son, and of my too sudden descent to the dense level of earth in search of him.» — del script treinta y uno: la voz resume lo que había contado y le pone el nombre doctrinal que el libro ya traía, unión mística con el espíritu de su alma de grupo.

«In my present life one can have during a rest period what is similar to the dream of a human being during sleep» — y la doctrina que enuncia para explicar lo que sigue, que en su estado hay algo semejante al sueño durante un periodo de reposo.

«As I have written before, the normal human being and also when he has reached my discarnate level, is not usually a number of selves. But his dominant self is allied with minor centres of consciousness or units.» — del script treinta y uno: la doctrina de los yoes aplicada también al estado descarnado, un yo dominante con centros menores de consciencia.

«There is a dream sweetness about my present state or place. Yet my environment is familiar and totally real. I live in an existence in form both in human etheric forms and surroundings such as in outline nature and man provide. Yet I can be of them and not of them. I am not wedded to them or welded into them.» — del script treinta y dos: la descripción que la voz da de su estado, con formas etéricas humanas y entorno reconocible, y a la vez sin quedar soldada a ellos.

«One’s mind can govern and alter conditions in a manner not possible on earth. That is, if one exerts oneself, makes an effort.» — y la diferencia que señala con la tierra, que allá la mente gobierna y altera las condiciones si se hace el esfuerzo.

«What is novel also is that I appear to be in a kind of kinder¬ garten and in my working hours I relive in memory what earth time has snatched away from me. So in the study of memory I do not remain at Cadoxton. I enter the film of past events and make excursions into different times in my past earth life so as to assimilate it.» — y el nombre que la voz da a su ocupación presente, una especie de jardín de infancia donde revive la memoria para asimilarla, que es la revivencia que Broad resume en el Foreword.

«He has even visited me in the disguise of his past earthly personality so blazing with fire and force when in its prime.» — y la doctrina de la apariencia prestada aplicada a otro caso, el político que la visita con el disfraz de su personalidad terrena.

«All my talk and efforts at the League of Nations as I perceive it and re-experience it now in this film of memory did benefit my larger self, but was of very little service to anyone else.» — y el balance que saca, con las dos mitades dichas sin suavizar ninguna.

«Weighing and measuring my memories now, I perceive the ironical fact that the only statesman I ever helped and influenced was A.J.B.» — y el hecho que la voz llama irónico, que el único estadista a quien de veras influyó fue aquel de quien más recelaba.

«It is true that when I set out to communicate these G.C. scripts my main object was your conversion to the idea that your mother was not obliterated, not solely a handful of dust, but was, however changed, living and loving you still.» — la voz declara cuál era su objeto principal al empezar estos scripts, convertir al hijo a la idea de que no quedó obliterada.

«But now all desire has left me to convert you. Since I had that extraordinary experience of an almost mystical character, when you and I soared together, I am satisfied.» — y el cambio que declara después de aquella experiencia, que retira el deseo de convertirlo.

«love, a force of gravitation in this world of the mind, will inevitably draw us together at some future date.» — y lo que pone en su lugar, el amor como fuerza de gravitación en un mundo que llama de la mente.

«Meantime be as happy as you can in your nursery illusion that death means extinction. It will make the universe seem much cozier to you.» — y la despedida del script treinta y dos, que deja al hijo en su incredulidad con una ironía sobre lo acogedor que le hará el universo.

«I had many different residences during my restless life. West Kensington (1) and associated with it that curious darkness enfolding me about, the texture of black velvet. To be in the body and not in the body, unable to use, to move any limb.» — del script treinta y tres, el relato de la propia muerte: la oscuridad de textura de terciopelo negro y el estar en el cuerpo sin poder mover un miembro.

«Yet the mind to be clear enough to perceive images, memories of my past long life from the beginning. Picture after picture over the years of it. All the faces, the appearances of all the people who had filled my eighty or more years, slowly filing by, projected» — y lo que la mente hacía entretanto según el script, ver desfilar en imágenes la vida entera y las caras de todos; el tramo se corta donde el troceo reemite la plana.

«The hackneyed saying—“a drowning man sees his whole life pass before him". Yes, I had that experience.» — del script treinta y tres: la voz reconoce en su propia muerte el tópico del ahogado que ve pasar su vida entera.

«There came a tearing and a rending. I was floating away, mercifully released, at peace at last.» — y cómo el script describe el instante del desprendimiento, un desgarrar y un rasgar antes de la liberación.

«Each one’s experience of death is no doubt unique. That was death for me. Not at all sensational, rather ignoble, you will say, G.C.» — y la acotación que la voz pone a su propio relato, que la muerte es única para cada uno y la suya nada sensacional.

«She encountered her over here and gave her hints and help about the series of scripts that Winifred dictated to you.» — del script treinta y cuatro, en voz del control: declara que una tercera voz, la de la colaboradora muerta de la automatista, ayudó desde el otro lado en la serie entera.

«So let your mind be a blank, not wandering back to the previous scripts received from Winifred.» — y la instrucción que el control le da antes de escribir, que es la misma suspensión del yo crítico que la comunicadora describía de su propio oficio.

«The individual who is thoroughly human, as I was and am still, is naturally extremely morbid and emotional about his or her own death, but this is intrinsically very much less so in connection with other people’s deaths!» — del script treinta y cuatro: la voz se acota a sí misma como humana todavía, y de ahí explica lo morboso de su relato anterior.

«Philosophically speaking death is an occasion for rejoicing at your end as well as ours.» — y la tesis que enuncia de paso, con la doble perspectiva que el libro sostiene.

«Though her brains have been dust these many years, she and I met here fairly soon after my passing. If you can bear to continue reading of two brainless morons, let me tell you that despite their alleged deficiencies the friendship between these two—Margaret and myself—was rekindled and became enriched.» — del script treinta y cuatro: el reencuentro con la amiga muerta muchos años antes, que es el arreglo que el resto del script relata.

«But this happy parsing of the past was interrupted by a startling summons. Margaret hastened away. I followed into dim dense depths, finally was halted by the vision of her meeting her daughter at the gate of death.» — y la escena a la que la voz dice haber asistido, una muerta recibiendo a su hija en la puerta de la muerte.

«I shall call her X—the unknown quantity. One reason for my naming her thus is that her husband is a friend of yours and still regards her as living, though now to him she is X—the un¬ unknown quantity. Call him Mr. X and her Mrs. X.» — y el nombre supuesto que el script pone a la recién muerta, jugando con el sentido matemático de la letra.

«I noted the withdrawal of Mrs. X (l) from her physical body, not as in deep sleep but in full consciousness. She hovered above it. But an apparition on our level does not necessarily mean death. The vital cord was but half severed.» — del script treinta y cinco: la descripción del desprendimiento, con la acotación doctrinal de que una aparición en ese nivel no implica muerte porque el cordón vital iba a medias.

«She realized she was out of her body perfectly. Was this an out-of-the-body experience, she asked herself, as she looked down at her own face and her shape under the coverings.» — y lo que el script atribuye a la mente de la muerta en ese instante, preguntarse si era una experiencia fuera del cuerpo mientras se miraba a sí misma.

«Oh! Would she remember this situation in the morning, to the extent that she could tell him about her out-of-the-body experience? He would question her. How could she prove it had happened?» — y el detalle que el script pone en esa mente, la preocupación por poder probarlo a la mañana siguiente, que es vocabulario de investigadora psíquica.

«Here I was switched off from her mind, as I became suddenly aware of Margaret and her husband, and I realized their purpose. They wouldn’t let her struggle back. Oh, they wanted to spare her so much, spare her what is called a living death.» — y el papel que el script atribuye a los muertos que la reciben, impedirle volver para ahorrarle lo que llama una muerte en vida.

«They were right; but it all seemed incredibly hard.» — y el juicio con que la voz consigna esa intervención, sin suavizar ninguna de las dos mitades.

«Tell him of my safe arrival, and that all is more than well. Of course I am forced to rest by two dear bullies, who are very reassuring. Now my great happiness is that it cannot be very long before you join me here. But I believe that you can hasten the time. There are things to be tidied up. Only you can do it, must do it, before you are permitted to go. So don’t waste time, don’t fail. Don’t be disheartened, as I used to be sometimes. When you arrive here you will realise that your life has been well spent. You will ...”» — el mensaje que el script treinta y cinco transmite para el viudo, releído entero en el crudo: la llegada a salvo, el reposo forzado, la certeza del reencuentro y el encargo de no perder tiempo con lo que queda por ordenar.

«There was more than that in the message Margaret gave me. But I do not care to repeat it for a good reason.» — y la voz declara dentro del propio script que retiene parte del mensaje, sin decir qué.

«I am a little doubtful about an approach to Mr. X. You, Henry, know him better than I do, so I leave it to you to decide if you think it kind or wise to give him this message, or tell him any¬ thing about what I have written. It might be cruelly unkind to do so. For some people such a loss as his is sacred. No one should refer to it. It must be wholly ignored.» — y la reserva con que la voz deja la entrega del mensaje en manos del hijo, contando con que para algunos una pérdida así es sagrada y no se toca.

«But, oh my dearest Henry, your disbelief in me sometimes enrages me, and then I write horrid sarcasms to you. G. (Gurney) helps me with them beforehand—“good for the youngster’’, he says.» — del script treinta y cinco: la voz se disculpa por sus sarcasmos y los atribuye en parte a otro comunicador, que es el reparto de responsabilidad que el script siguiente desarrolla.

«At his—G.’s—direction, I write that I remain ‘Your loving but non-existent ‘mother.’» — y la firma con que cierra, que junta el cariño y el pleito del libro entero en tres palabras.

«They considered that the difficulties were considerable for me in presenting successfully through G.C. anything that would make an impression on an intellectual public. So they appointed Edmund Gurney as my assistant. We were to work in double harness, as it were, he to provide the force, I to be the actual communicator.» — del script treinta y seis, la confesión que el propio libro anuncia como secreto: que se le asignó un asistente para proveer la fuerza mientras ella comunicaba.

«He shaped the outline of certain scripts I have written via G.C. I provided the memories and was the com¬ municator who directed the pen.» — y el reparto exacto del trabajo según la voz, uno dando el esquema y ella las memorias y la dirección de la pluma.

«But there were occasions when he trespassed on to the territory of my mind. In fact his mind, in certain instances, blending with mine, may have, as he admits himself, taken away from the revelation of what was characteristic of me.» — y lo que la voz declara como falla de ese arreglo, que la mezcla de las dos mentes quitó de lo que era característico de ella, con la concesión de él dentro.

«I want to make it clear that occasionally his keen sense of humour, as exemplified in passages in certain scripts and in their satirical construction, were not mine, and I have candidly told him that some of the remarks as taken down by the automatist were not as I would have phrased them, and also their humour was too flippant and cheap in character.» — y qué partes desautoriza la voz, el humor satírico que llama frívolo y barato, que es una de las cosas que el hijo no reconocía en su madre.

«These I disown, and I ask that in any analysis of these writings, due allowance is made for the Gurney blend in the style and approach of certain of the scripts.» — y la petición que la voz dirige a quien analice estos escritos, que se descuente la mezcla, que es una regla de lectura dicha desde dentro del propio material.

«There is of course a considerable residue of myself in them. Also on my own I wrote several intimate personal letters that were entirely me.» — y lo que la voz reclama como suyo sin mezcla, varias cartas personales.

«On the other hand, I must honestly say that I, as a newcomer to this level of life, would, I believe, owing to the great diffi¬ culties of communication, have almost totally failed, if it had not been for Edmund’s experienced assistance and driving force.» — y el reconocimiento que la voz hace de ese mismo asistente, que sin él habría fracasado casi del todo.

«It was necessary, if evidence was to be successfully pushed through, that the automatist should be misled. Thereby facts unknown to her could be more easily conveyed.» — la primera de las dos razones que el script da para engañar a la automatista, y es de método evidencial: que así se le podían pasar hechos que ella no sabía.

«That obscurity in the writing as was the case in the cross correspondences would be more impressive to W.H.» — y la segunda razón, que la oscuridad del escrito impresionaría más al investigador, como en las correspondencias cruzadas.

«In this only a white lie was told. Certainly it deceived the auto¬» — y cómo el script califica ese engaño, mentira piadosa, con la confesión de que funcionó.

«But it is a true statement that Margaret Verrall on this level is a relative of mine. For we live in a world of creative mind, and she is mentally and intellectually of my own family.» — y la salvedad con que la voz sostiene que aun así dijo verdad, por un parentesco de otro orden.

«As Edmund said: “on earth it is asserted that blood can be thicker than water, but on our level, it is neither thick nor thin, as it doesn’t exist.’’» — y la frase que el script pone en boca del otro comunicador para decirlo, con la sangre que allá no existe.

«In this other world we are related to each other through having lived on earth in each other’s fate, design or circle, to a greater or lesser degree, through our emotionally driven imaginations, through what pertains to minds being akin.» — y la doctrina del parentesco que el script enuncia en su lugar, por haber vivido en el círculo del otro y por afinidad de mentes.

«G.C.’s subliminal mind, which is called Astor (4), would, so far as was possible, be sustained by us in the Verrall field and would describe what had transpired about Helen’s exit from the physical body.» — la afirmación más fuerte del script treinta y seis sobre el estatuto del control: que es la mente subliminal de la automatista, sostenida por los comunicadores.

«How far Astor succeeded we do not know, but we believe that he did select and describe with a partial accuracy.» — y la reserva con que la voz mide ese resultado, exactitud parcial y sin certeza.

«Doubtless he made mistakes and these must be condoned, for he was reading off thoughts and images, and endeavouring to relate them in a coherent report. It is a very difficult process to interpret the symbols of memory—for a subliminal mind at any rate.» — y la razón que da de esos errores, que interpretar los símbolos de la memoria es proceso muy difícil.

«You little realize how difficult it is sometimes, when there is no sitter to help focus the field to their circle.» — del script treinta y siete, en voz del control: la dificultad de trabajar sin asistente que enfoque el campo, que es la doctrina del trío enunciada por la otra voz.

«We are a trilogy,’ he says, 'but in this my world a trilogy is the reverse of tragedy. In common usage the belief is that the last phase of the human being’s life on earth is tragic. Hence the mourners, the crepe at the funeral. But here the reverse, the joy of birth.» — y lo que dice el comunicador entrometido de ese script, que vuelve del revés el vocabulario del duelo.

«Gradually there is an emergence from the trilogy of experiences, the pangs of decay, of breaking up, of infirmities, of the gloomy limitations of old age, into the early spring-time of new life on our level.» — y el itinerario que describe, de las tres experiencias del decaer a lo que llama la primavera temprana de una vida nueva.

«We were summoned from another level. Hence our arriving after the birth. But it was for us the right moment on that dense level of Hades.» — del script treinta y siete, en voz del comunicador entrometido: llegaron convocados desde otro nivel y hablan de un nivel denso al que ponen nombre clásico.

«I want it to be known that she just slipped out of her body, found herself above it, and struggled frantically to get back. Owing to that slip out at her passing, she experienced no pain.» — y lo que esa voz quiere que se sepa de la muerte de su hija, que fue sin dolor por haber salido del cuerpo antes.

«Why, though, did we keep her? Not out of selfishness. I simply could not permit her the horror of pain day after day. Scarred on my memory are my years of suffering on earth. Mine was a long experience of pain, before death’s merciful release.» — y la razón que da de haberle impedido volver, con su propio dolor de años puesto por argumento.

«So instead of taking narcotics, dulling my mind, thereby resting in a comfort¬ able position, I engaged my enemy arthritis, in battle. I was a proud man. I would not be beaten by him.» — y el retrato que esa voz hace de sí misma, trabajando con dolor agudo por no dejarse vencer, que es el dato que después se coteja.

«I perceived his present environment. I saw an ancient Greek temple and near it an amphitheatre, mountains, sparkling sea and deep blue skies. He used, when in his study on earth, often to visualize this scene, so often that it has been easy for him to make it reality here.» — del script treinta y siete, en voz del control: el entorno del comunicador descrito como un escenario griego que él visualizaba en vida y que ahora se le ha hecho real.

«On earth, man, as he ages, lives in his dream. If it means much to him, he is caught in its webs here. But it is a natural evolutionary process, connected with the eventual growth of the psyche, when it passes to things undreamed of by mortal man. It enters then the world of creative mind.» — y la doctrina que el control enuncia a partir de eso: el sueño terreno que atrapa y a la vez se asimila, como proceso evolutivo hacia el mundo de la mente creadora.

«In farewell to me, he pointed to the amphitheatre and exclaimed: ‘I am seeing the real thing now, and by God, they knew how to act!’» — y la frase con que esa voz se despedía, señalando el anfiteatro de su entorno.

«Perhaps he had a previous life in ancient Greece. Hence his recreation of it as his present environment.» — y la hipótesis que el control se permite sobre ese entorno, dicha como tal y no como doctrina.

«We relived in memory—even of a time before you came. It was to me the turning over the pages of a book of pictures, then reconstructing them like a stage-manager building a stage-picture, but with the setting, the scenery, and the people of other days.» — del script treinta y ocho: la figura con que la voz describe el revivir compartido, pasar las páginas de un libro de estampas y después montarlas como un director de escena.

«As one makes in space a continental trip, so here Helen and I made a journey in past time.» — y la fórmula con que nombra ese trabajo, un viaje por el tiempo pasado como quien hace uno por el espacio.

«I had some money of my own, and took the liberty it gave me to be away from my husband when it suited me. I trained him into agreement and in time I think he realized the value of such absences. They introduced novelties into our married life. On my returning to him, we shared our experiences apart, and they made us better companions.» — del script treinta y ocho, el recuerdo de su propio matrimonio: la independencia que le daba el dinero propio y las ausencias que dice haber convertido en provecho de los dos.

«But oh if only she had practised such absences with Fred, he would have loved her so much more.» — y la moraleja que saca para el matrimonio de la cuñada, que es el mismo caso de posesividad que recorre los scripts.

«And now, in the year 1959, when we communed about them, and Helen’s own knowledge of Eveleen’s exchanges with Margaret, they were only an occasion for enjoyment of the rich comedic effects, and the pathos too of poor dear Eveleen did move us also. We are not altogether hardened wretches.» — y la distancia que el script atribuye al otro lado, los rencores viejos vueltos comedia y su parte de compasión, con la salvedad de que no son del todo desalmadas.

«my turn to make what some believe is a long journey. But for me it was such a short journey. Oh, it was so incredibly easy and painless. There was only one very brief nightmare, when I wanted to get back into my body in order to return to you. An instant’s bad dream. That’s all death was to me.» — del script treinta y ocho, en la voz que el libro asigna a la recién muerta: el viaje breve, la pesadilla de un instante al querer volver al cuerpo, y nada más.

«After it, almost immediately, there came the unimaginable moment —a welcoming mother and father. Oh, just as they were in a long gone past, in their prime. You can’t imagine what a feeling of safety they gave me. Freedom at once from that inert thing, my body—freedom from the fear of the Unknown.» — y el recibimiento de los padres muertos, con la doctrina de la apariencia prestada otra vez, tal como ella los recordaba en su plenitud.

«In the past we, you and I, have wondered what our arrival to this level would be like. But nothing we supposed came up to that beautiful, surprising, homely feeling I had with these two protectors waiting for me. That’s why I have called it the unimaginable moment.» — y la comparación que esa voz hace entre lo que ella y su marido suponían de antemano y lo que dice haber hallado.

«Death’s exit is so simple, and all our lives we have made it intrinsically complicated, with long, nonsensical words. We were intellectually emancipated from the solemn, gloomy religious utterances. But we were tied up in knots by the intellectuals’ weaving and weaving of phrases that eventually tore our poor selves into many shreds and abolished them.» — la queja que esa voz dirige a los suyos, que la muerte sea simple y ellos la hayan complicado con palabras largas y con el tejido de frases de los intelectuales.

«Of course our friends will say of this account of my experi¬ ences—if they do not entirely dismiss it—that my perishing wraith is living in a gossamer dream. But in that case it is the pleasantest one I have ever dreamt when asleep on earth.» — y la objeción que esa voz se pone a sí misma, que su espectro esté viviendo un sueño de gasa, respondida sin negarla.

«These are all in the litter of memory. They have appeared to me, as I remem¬ bered them in the earlier years of my life, before you came into it.» — del script treinta y ocho: la voz de la recién muerta describe la apariencia de sus padres como disfraces viejos tomados del desorden de la memoria.

«Oh, it will change I know. Later on—visitors, friends, the setting of another scene in my life.’» — y la reserva con que cierra ese cuadro, que es provisional y cambiará.

«I have been amused by dear Winifred’s attempt to comfort me, which she has developed in her letter. Her plan for suitable absences from her husband. How little she knew, or ever at any time had our experience of the perfect comradeship.» — y el desacuerdo que el volumen conserva entre sus dos voces muertas, la recién llegada objetando el consejo matrimonial de la otra.

«I have been a witness of the film of memory, the record of my life. Some fragments of it I have dictated in this manner which you may have read. They were disjointed and in parts a mere reflection of my moods in past times during my earth-life, or a presentation of a mask of the self with the conventional conversational patter of long ago.» — del script treinta y nueve: la voz revisa sus propios scripts anteriores y los llama deshilvanados y en parte reflejo de sus estados de ánimo o máscara con la charla convencional de antaño.

«But there are, as you may know, underground chambers of the mind, certain of them might be likened to foul festering dungeons.» — y la figura con que nombra lo que va a confesar, cámaras subterráneas de la mente que llama mazmorras putrefactas.

«Oh I was so bitterly disappointed when I learnt that this happy dream was a deluding fancy. In the first days after the birth I repulsed my baby-son, visited my bitterness on his tiny innocent self.» — la confesión misma, que es lo que hace de este script el más duro del volumen: la decepción por el sexo del recién nacido y el rechazo volcado sobre él.

«But at that very early age the babe is subconsciously acutely sensible of the mother’s emotion towards himself. Nature has implanted the instinct in him in his weakness to turn to her as his sheltering providence.» — y la doctrina psicológica con que la voz explica el daño, que el bebé percibe subconscientemente la emoción de la madre a la que el instinto lo hace volverse.

«I see now that fundamentally I was a possessive mother. As you, a sturdy little boy, refused to be owned I instinctively turned to Henry and sought to own him.» — y el juicio que la voz pronuncia sobre sí misma, que es el reverso exacto de lo que un script anterior sostenía, que había evitado el amor posesivo.

«Henry has, I believe, no intuitions, so he yielded too much to my possessive love. It has not been good for him.» — y lo que la voz saca de ahí para el otro hijo, que por no tener intuición cedió demasiado a ese amor.

«I have even in these posthumous messages written, I believe, false things about you. But these were all derived from my baffled emotional vanity because I failed in any sense to possess you.» — la voz desautoriza cosas que ella misma escribió en scripts anteriores y les da causa, una vanidad emocional frustrada.

«In this life when studying our past memories we assume the mood of the time in which those memories were happening.» — y la regla que enuncia para explicar esas falsedades, que al estudiar las memorias se asume el estado de ánimo del tiempo en que ocurrieron.

«Now I see it all so clearly I find I love you dearly, but not with the selfish overwhelmingly possessive desire that I showed for Henry.» — y la fórmula con que la voz cierra la confesión, distinguiendo dos amores por su carácter y no por su intensidad.

«I was Mrs. Willett, whom I abandoned many years ago. But when in my unpleasant old age Helen visited me—so kind —I soon noted that she wanted to talk to me about Mrs. Willett and those long past times. ‘It roused up wistful memories of my dear friends, the Balfours. I could not bear it, so I brusquely shut up Helen on that occasion, changing the subject, refusing to be drawn.» — del script cuarenta, el último del volumen: la voz se presenta por el seudónimo que dice haber abandonado y cuenta el desaire que ahora repara.

«But I have met the group of Cambridge scholars for whom we worked so hard, also our old colleagues, Gerald Balfour, Pid, Mrs. Sidgwick, even her brother Arthur and Sir Oliver.» — del script cuarenta, en la voz de la segunda muerta: el censo de los muertos del caso reunidos, que es el elenco entero del libro.

«Shortly after I was promoted to this life I sent messages to my hus¬ band to the effect that he should move from Crowji House and move to London and work here for the S.P.R. I feel now that I should not have suggested his uprootal.» — y la corrección que esa voz hace de un mensaje suyo anterior, que es el segundo desmentido que el volumen conserva de una voz sobre sí misma.

«I HAVE always disliked looking at my face in a mirror, but my collaborator in this book insists that I must face the mirror of time by relating some autobiographical facts, since they may be helpful to the reader of the Cummins-Willett scripts.» — así abre Cummins su capítulo autobiográfico, declarando que escribe a instancias de la editora y para qué, para que sirva a quien lea los scripts.

«I am an author. Fifteen of my twenty-two published books have been ‘transmitted’, or produced by ‘automatic’ writing. Of the rest seven have been consciously produced; five of them have Irish themes and setting; two deal with aspects of psychical research.» — y el inventario con que Cummins se presenta, que es donde da la proporción de su obra transmitida frente a la consciente.

«It is necessary to make this statement as I have been quite often described as ‘a well-known film star’, (who has the same surname) or other professions have been alleged to be mine.» — y la razón que Cummins da de ese inventario, que se la confunde con una actriz de cine del mismo apellido y se le atribuyen oficios ajenos.

«But I must in self-defence emphatically deny the practice of one of several professions assigned to me as the livelihood producing my daily bread.» — y lo que Cummins niega con más fuerza, ejercer alguno de esos oficios como medio de vida, que es la negativa del médium profesional.

«The technique of composition has always been of deep interest to me, and when I was a young Irishwoman it developed on two lines. (1) The composition was the creation of my conscious mind. (2) It was derived from the unconscious.» — Cummins distingue en primera persona sus dos maneras de componer, la del pleno acuerdo consciente y la que viene del inconsciente.

«In the former case I write very slowly and laboriously and have to revise the MS. again and again. A short story has taken my conscious mind a month to compose.» — y lo que dice de la primera, escritura lenta y trabajosa con muchas revisiones.

«On the conscious mind level I have tried and failed to write about English people. I did not know them sufficiently well to make their characters come alive in fiction. They remained foreigners to me.» — y el límite que Cummins se reconoce en esa manera, no lograr personajes ingleses, que es el argumento que Toksvig usa a su favor en la Introduction.

«For instance, certain English and American persons’ characters and personalities, unknown to me, were reported by their relatives or friends to have been successfully delineated in such writing.» — y lo que opone de la segunda manera, personajes ingleses y americanos desconocidos para ella que sus deudos dieron por bien retratados.

«Its composition emerged from the deeper levels of mind, so much so it seemed as if I were merely a secretary taking down an already fully composed narrative by another author, and my pen travelled over page after page with abnormal rapidity.» — la descripción que Cummins da de esa segunda escritura, como si fuera secretaria tomando un relato ya compuesto por otro autor.

«Various authors, notably William Blake the poet, have had that strange experience of dictated writing. We cannot explain it.» — y el precedente literario que invoca, con la abstención dicha en cuatro palabras.

«I use the adjective transmitted to define it because my conscious mind is suspended, plays no part in the communication.» — y la razón que Cummins da de preferir transmitida a automática, que es la misma enmienda de vocabulario que hace la editora.

«Whatever the source of such writings, i.e. a subconscious or a common unconscious mind, or a discarnate individual’s mind I have not composed a single sentence of those rapidly written scripts when provided.» — la fórmula con que Cummins declara lo único que afirma de sus scripts, dejando las tres explicaciones posibles abiertas y negando solo haber compuesto una frase.

«According to modern standards, my own education was negligible. I never went to school. Three of my younger sisters and I received instruction successively from two uneducated resident English governesses and finally a French mademoiselle.» — Cummins mide su propia instrucción a la baja, que es dato del caso porque los scripts traen erudición que ella no tenía.

«My subsequent interest in psychic science was much re¬ inforced, I think, through my family background of medical science.» — y lo que Cummins pone en el otro platillo, el fondo familiar de ciencia médica que detalla en seguida.

«But with our background of Medical Science all of us children were brought up in an analytical atmosphere with a kind of religious respect for exact truthful statement in scientific research; there was to be no loading of the dice for emotional or personal reasons.» — y lo que Cummins dice haber sacado de ese fondo, una atmósfera analítica con respeto religioso por el enunciado exacto y sin cargar los dados.

«Doubtless through this paternal influence I am still what I described myself at the age of seven, ‘a very curious person’, that is to say a person who wants to know the truth concerning life and death however disagreeable it may be.» — y la definición que Cummins da de sí misma, tomada de lo que decía a los siete años, persona muy curiosa que quiere saber la verdad sobre la vida y la muerte por desagradable que sea.

«I wrote stories that were published in magazines and I collaborated with my friend Miss S. R. Day in writing an Irish peasant tragedy called Broken Faith. Then, at the age of twenty-two, I experienced the youthful bliss of witnessing this play being rehearsed by the poet W. B. Yeats and the play¬ wright Lennox Robinson at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.» — Cummins data su comienzo literario y teatral, con los dos nombres que ensayaron su obra.

«Alas, only once in my life have I seen a ghost, one very welcome to me.» — y la acotación que Cummins pone a su propia experiencia psíquica, una sola aparición en toda su vida.

«my own psychic experiments beginning when in the later years of World War One I was a paying guest in the house of Mrs. Hester Dowden in Lower FitzWilliam Street, Dublin.» — y dónde y con quién empezaron sus experimentos según ella, en la casa de otra médium durante la primera guerra.

«Among those who attended our sittings was a young man back from the Serbian front, Mr. E. R. Dodds, later Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford University and finally in 1961-2 President of the Society for Psychical Research (the S.P.R.).» — Cummins nombra a un asistente de aquellas sesiones y lo sigue hasta su cátedra y su presidencia de la sociedad.

«His was an extremely whole¬ some sceptical influence. He has a keen sense of humour and youthful though he was then, did not mind Hester calling him ‘the Universal Question Mark’.» — y lo que Cummins dice de él en aquellas sesiones, un escepticismo que llama sanísimo y el apodo con que lo llamaban.

«At first I was very sceptical as on that ouija board there were many statements made obviously traceable to my subconscious mind.» — y cómo empezó ella, escéptica ante enunciados que atribuía a su propia mente subconsciente.

«Incidentally, I dislike the word ‘control’, commonly used in psychic research for the guardian caretaker of a medium.» — la enmienda de vocabulario que Cummins hace por su cuenta, que le disgusta la palabra control con que la investigación psíquica nombra al guardián de un médium.

«He used me as an intermediary to investigate through transmitted writing the psychological backgrounds of patients in cases of obscure neurosis. Thus was disclosed the conflicts etc. in the patients’ subconscious minds.» — Cummins describe el uso médico que un facultativo hizo de ella, investigar por escritura transmitida el fondo psicológico de pacientes con neurosis oscuras.

«In my case, I had merely concentrated on stillness and listening as a stenographer does to dictation, and these correct statements relating to the history of the object touched by me or held wandered into my brain in words.» — y cómo describe Cummins su propio procedimiento en la lectura de objetos, con el símil de la estenógrafa que escucha un dictado.

«I never saw the patients. Usually a sheet of his or her hand-writing and an object he or she had worn were posted to me and I worked alone upon them in the absence of the physician.» — y el protocolo de esos trabajos según Cummins, que no veía a los pacientes y trabajaba sola sobre un papel escrito y un objeto.

«But a man described as 'an intellectual’ recently in an ignorant article finally dismissed psychical research with the remark ‘I cannot see the use of mediums’. Dr. Connell and I have proved that a sensitive can be of valuable service to medical psychology in restoring to health sufferers from obscure psychoses mainly through what is called psychometry or object reading. Certain patients have been thus rescued from ruin and despair.» — la respuesta de Cummins a quien despachaba la investigación psíquica por inútil, con lo que ella reclama haber mostrado y con el término técnico que usa.

«I must add that I have no medical qualifications. I am simply employed as a masseuse by a physician. So no patient should apply to me about his case.» — y el límite que Cummins se pone en el acto, sin títulos médicos y empleada por un facultativo, con la advertencia a los lectores.

«It is entirely thanks to E.B.G. as I shall call her that I was able among my various occupations to work seriously at psychic research over many ensuing years.» — Cummins atribuye a su colaboradora haber podido trabajar en serio en investigación psíquica, que es la figura que los scripts llaman por sus iniciales.

«She tried to check every detail, fact or name, given in personal communications that were unknown to us. Of these there were a considerable number.» — y el método de esa colaboradora, comprobar cada detalle, hecho o nombre desconocido para las dos.

«I shall not in future cumber the pages with the words ‘alleged’ or ‘purporting to be’ from communicators.» — la decisión de escritura que Cummins anuncia en su capítulo, dejar de cargar las páginas con las fórmulas de reserva, que es lo contrario de lo que hace el aparato del volumen.

«Leading English and Scottish theological scholars highly commended the accuracy of certain historical facts written in them, facts entirely unknown to me. I could not in view of my education have known them.» — y el argumento que Cummins da por sus escritos anteriores, la exactitud histórica reconocida por estudiosos frente a su propia instrucción.

«These transmitted writings were accepted by Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Lawrence Jones as coming from their old friend Frederic Myers and as dealing with subjects and ideas they had discussed with him during his lifetime.» — y el segundo argumento, la aceptación de dos investigadores que habían tratado en vida al comunicador alegado.

«In fact, no investigator is in a position to give a verdict against the evidence of survival obtained in psychic science until he has thoroughly studied among other previously mentioned cases of research, Mrs. Harris’s notable achievement in a detached manner as a lawyer, weighing and sifting evidence.» — la exigencia que Cummins pone a quien quiera fallar contra la evidencia de supervivencia, con el símil del abogado que pesa y criba.

«Admittedly mediums of the calibre of Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Harris and Cross-Correspondence writers, such as Mrs. Willett, Mrs. Piper, Mrs. W. H. Salter and Mrs. Verrall are rare. There are extremely few great poets or scientists in a generation so there are very few psychic geniuses called mediums or transmitting writers.» — y la concesión con que Cummins acota su propio campo, que los casos de ese calibre son tan raros como los grandes poetas o científicos.

«Mr. Salter conducted my long Cummins-Willett experiment. He and Mr. Henry Tennant (Mrs. Willett’s younger son) were the absent sitters in this case.» — Cummins declara quién condujo este experimento y quiénes fueron los asistentes ausentes, que es el protocolo del libro dicho por ella.

«On perhaps four or five occasions they sent me a query or a request to put to the communicator, otherwise they simply in their letters to me acknowledged each Willett script of writing posted by me to either of them and replied that the script received was of interest, or asked for a further contribution.» — y qué contacto hubo en el curso de la serie, que es el dato que sostiene la negativa de telepatía desde un asistente presente.

«We were amateurs; I was never a professional. It was quite beyond my strength. Indeed, I have a respectful admiration for first-class professional mental mediums of integrity who lead an arduous, exhausting, ill-paid life.» — Cummins se separa del médium profesional y a la vez lo respeta, con la vida que le atribuye dicha sin adorno.

«Until 1952 I avoided reading any books or articles about psychic research as I feared that its technical jargon would interfere with my composi¬ tion in regard to my consciously composed literary work.» — y la razón que Cummins da de no haber leído sobre el asunto hasta 1952, que es el dato en que descansa su negativa sobre las fuentes.

«A month before she died on December 18, 1951, she begged me to abandon literary work, concentrating on our research. I promised to do so, and have kept my promise.» — y la promesa que Cummins dice haber hecho a su colaboradora moribunda, dejar la literatura por la investigación.

«As he, with passionate curiosity, studied the mystery of life and death in medical science I continue to pursue and probe at this mystery in psychic science.» — y la continuidad que Cummins reclama con su padre médico, la misma curiosidad por el misterio de la vida y la muerte en otro campo.

«Is there a swan (a soul) that rises from the Black Sea of Death and flies away to other regions?» — y la pregunta con que Cummins cierra su capítulo, que es la del epígrafe del volumen devuelta al final.

«HOW do you establish your lines of communication?’ That is a question which I often meet with, in one form or another. I wish I could answer it clearly and simply, so that my map could be followed without difficulty by aspirants to the same psychic experiences. But all I can do is to try to throw light on the process from different angles. It can never be a textbook answer, for the track that those lines follow is at least partly laid in a region apart from conscious thought.» — Cummins abre su capítulo de método con la pregunta que le hacen y con la acotación de por qué no puede haber respuesta de manual, porque el trecho se traza en parte fuera del pensamiento consciente.

«Briefly, A.E. advised concentrating intently on an object such as a 'White Triangle’, or on a single word, for at first a very few minutes, three or four perhaps, as the whole attention had to be uninterruptedly fixed on the object, with every stray thought eliminated.» — y la primera instrucción que dice haber recibido, atribuida a un poeta irlandés y presentada como práctica de metafísicos orientales: concentración fija en un objeto o una palabra por unos minutos.

«I chose the word ‘stillness’, perceiving it meditatively in my mind’s eye, for a few minutes only while I endeavoured to lose my little self in the meaning of that word.» — y la palabra que Cummins eligió para ese ejercicio, que es el término técnico de su método.

«The advice which was somehow transmitted to me was this: In the quiet of evening I was first to concentrate on stillness, secondly to desire the fulfilment of my need and thirdly to imagine it fulfilled.» — y el método completo en tres pasos, que Cummins declara recibido y no inventado: concentrar en la quietud, desear el cumplimiento de la necesidad e imaginarla cumplida.

«In order to enter the stillness, it is necessary to raise one’s intelligence to a higher degree of consciousness. The stillness is neither a passive, inert state, nor trance, in my experience.» — y la definición que Cummins da de esa quietud, deslindándola de dos estados con los que se confunde.

«When achieved it is a lucid work of intense activity. The condition of stillness clarifies the desire and creates efficiency.» — y lo que sí es según ella, obra lúcida de actividad intensa que clarifica el deseo.

«Once launched, the desire seems as a little boat on the lake or sea of the imagination. There, piloted by desire, driven forward by the waves of imagination, it can on certain occasions reach the objective chosen.» — y la figura con que Cummins describe la mecánica del método, la barca del deseo sobre el mar de la imaginación.

«But on the ominous date when I entered the ecclesiastical study there were five clergymen, besides the Bishop and Dr. Oesterley present, and a thunderstorm began to rage outside. All the conditions were hopelessly against me, so the fear returned that I would fail to put myself into the concen¬ trated state necessary to receptivity.» — el caso que Cummins pone a prueba de su propio método, con las condiciones adversas enumeradas y el miedo declarado.

«After about three minutes ‘the Messenger’ took over, and for an hour and a half an historical narrative was written at a consid¬ erable speed without a single pause.» — y el resultado que refiere, hora y media de narrativa histórica escrita a considerable velocidad sin una pausa.

«During the sitting I did not even hear the loud claps of thunder. I was too concentrated on the suspension of conscious thinking in order to listen in on another mind-level to notice earthly conditions.» — y la medida de su propia concentración que Cummins da de esa sesión, no haber oído los truenos.

«As much as 2,600 words were written at a sitting of close, historical narrative, and, according to Dr. W. OE Oesterley of London University, W. P. Paterson, Professor of Theology, Edinburgh University, Professor David Morrison of St. Andrew’s University, and other eminent theologians, historical and geographical facts unknown to me were recorded in these scripts.» — la cifra que Cummins da de una sesión y los nombres de los estudiosos que, dice, reconocieron en esos escritos hechos que ella no sabía.

«In the case of certain skilled mediums the subliminal appears to be the channel for a successful telepathic communication from another individual or group of individual minds, either incarnate or discarnate.» — la hipótesis que Cummins enuncia sobre lo que ocurre, dejando abiertas las dos fuentes posibles, encarnada o descarnada.

«In numerous instances it may only convey valuable evidence in flashes, the intervening words coming from the medium’s own subconscious mind. Every sitting or script has to be judged on its merits.» — y la regla de lectura que Cummins propone en consecuencia, evidencia a destellos con relleno subconsciente entre medias, y cada sesión juzgada por sí misma.

«Generally speaking, my first task is completely to orientate my thoughts away from the life around me. I prepare for such writing by eliminating sense impressions and muscular action.» — la primera operación del método según Cummins, apartar el pensamiento de la vida alrededor eliminando impresión sensorial y acción muscular.

«A condition of complete inattention to life is my goal, then a ‘not-self’ seems to dictate.» — y la meta que se propone, una desatención completa a la vida tras la cual, dice, parece dictar un no yo.

«Mediums have been accused of ‘fishing’ for information, but in my view such fishing is taboo, if, for no other reason, that it is certain to spoil my practise of concentration.» — Cummins declara tabú la pesca de información de que se acusa a los médiums, y da una razón de oficio antes que moral.

«I want to escape from everything and everyone around me into stillness, which, if attained, provides me with the listening attitude necessary for my inner hearing.» — y lo que busca en su lugar, la actitud de escucha que su oído interno necesita.

«Once launched on a sitting, when I have attained to that other level, I have no objection to questions or conversation on the part of the investigator addressed to the alleged communicator, as then my conscious mind is in a state of equilibrium. When this is attained successfully, it appears to be on a higher level of energy and in complete control of my brain, able as a steno¬ grapher to take down the conversation of the communicator.» — y el estado que describe una vez lanzada la sesión, una mente consciente en equilibrio y en control del cerebro, capaz de estenografiar.

«Professor C. J. Ducasse writes of two possible methods of communication: ‘(a) Cases where a person “possesses” for the time being parts at least of the body of a medium, i.e. uses her auditory and her vocal organs or writing hand; (b) employs the medium only as intermediary, i.e. “speaks to her telepathically”, and “listens” also telepathically, to what she hears when she speaks.’» — Cummins cita entera, y así se relee en el crudo, la distinción de dos métodos de comunicación de un filósofo, la posesión de los órganos del médium y el uso de ella solo como intermediaria telepática.

«Mine is and always has been the (b) method.» — y Cummins se coloca en uno de los dos, que es el que excluye la posesión, en una sola línea.

«A point of interest in the M. case is that, when holding his writing and his pen before obtaining the analysis, I felt an immense compassion for his suffering.» — el caso clínico que Cummins pone de ejemplo de su método completo, con la emoción declarada como parte del procedimiento.

«When emotion is roused in this way it strengthens desire and stimulates the imagination, which enables the higher mind or subliminal to function smoothly as a channel for authentic messages, as it has done in certain other cases. Apparently there is then little or no subconscious interference, breaking in and dictating irrelevant material.» — y la regla que Cummins saca de ese caso, la emoción reforzando deseo e imaginación y reduciendo la interferencia subconsciente.

«Of course I have had my blank sittings, devoid of evidence. Mediums more gifted than I have also experienced them. Just as in physical science numerous experiments are failures, so it can be in psychic experiments.» — Cummins consigna sus propios fracasos y los pone al lado del fracaso experimental corriente de las ciencias físicas.

«But in the latter case the sitter who has had a blank sitting with a medium of the first class too often wholly condemns the medium and does not examine him¬ self for any part in the failure.» — y la objeción que hace al asistente que condena al médium sin examinarse a sí mismo.

«Perhaps he is expert in some branch of science which would be revolutionized by evidence in¬ explicable to his colleagues and himself in the terms of his chosen subject. His subconscious desire then inflexibly deter¬ mines not to have him shaken out of his comfortable groove of thought.» — y el retrato del asistente que bloquea, con el especialista cuyo campo quedaría trastocado por la evidencia.

«Of course the medium too can be the cause of failure. Serious worries in her own life can inhibit the production of convincing evidence, or, as in the case of professional mediums, exhaustion of sensitivity through giving too many sittings.» — Cummins reparte la causa del fracaso también del lado del médium, con la preocupación propia y el agotamiento del profesional.

«Scepticism, however, is no fault or hindrance in the investi¬ gator. If not allied with his emotional subconscious prejudices or fears, evidential results can very well be obtained.» — y la distinción con que Cummins salva el escepticismo, que no estorba mientras no vaya aliado a prejuicios o miedos subconscientes.

«I’ve been asked to try and describe my personal sensations when I am acting as recorder of transmitted writing from those who claim to have departed this life of fairly recent times. I can do no better than to quote ‘Mrs. Willett’.» — Cummins describe sus propias sensaciones citando a la comunicadora, que es la inversión final del libro: la transmisora se explica con las palabras de quien transmite.

«I may add that I have not read the Balfour Study of the Psychological Aspects of Mrs. JVillett’s Mediumship, only what is quoted from it in G. N. M. Tyrrell’s The Personality of Man and in Mr. Saltmarsh’s Evidence of Personal Survival from Cross Correspondences. Neither book quotes very much from the Balfour Study.)» — y la negativa que Cummins repite justo ahí, entre paréntesis, sobre lo que ha leído del estudio anterior, con los dos libros nombrados y la acotación de que ninguno cita mucho.

«I heard nothing with my ears, but the words came from outside my mind ... I don’t feel a sense of seeing, but an intense sense of personality, like a blind person perhaps might have—and of inflections, such as amusement or emotion on the part of the speaker.’ And, again, ‘It is as “minds” and “character” I know them.’» — la cita de la comunicadora que Cummins hace suya, con la ausencia de voz oída y el sentido intenso de personalidad como de un ciego.

«But in psychometric work, that is to say when I have held an object I have occasion¬ ally been clairvoyant and have seen passing pictures of a person or a room or country that has been connected with the object or its owner.» — y la diferencia que Cummins marca respecto de esa cita, que en la lectura de objetos sí ha sido clarividente.

«But it was as if I were a spectator in a cinema, looking at moving pictures. I had hardly any sense of the words describing them that were being rapidly written by my hand.» — la figura con que Cummins describe esas imágenes, espectadora de cine que apenas percibe las palabras que su mano escribe.

«It may be significant that when I record communications from educated people of the last decade I do not see images and scenes, but when I recorded the Cleophas writings, concerned with people who were said to have lived eighteen hundred years ago, I sometimes saw moving pictures of them and their surroundings.» — y la correlación que Cummins señala con la cautela de un puede ser significativo, entre la época de los comunicadores y la aparición de imágenes.

«They came with a purpose and appeared to force their way into my writing.» — la clase de comunicador que Cummins llama intruso, desconocido para ella y para los presentes, que se abre paso con un propósito.

«But how then in these scripts did this static Great Memory demonstrate a very active survival in Tomlin’s case, showing his characteristic jealousy of his daughter’s husband and exhibiting in unscrupulous action an agitated mind tormented by hatred and frustration?» — y el argumento que le opone, que una memoria estática no explicaría una mente activa y agitada por celos y odio.

«This case and others show that when an intruding stranger is driven by a powerful emotion of love, jealousy or hatred he appears to be able through its power to overcome all difficulties of transmission and to be able to convey verifiable facts, as did Tomlin.» — la regla que Cummins saca de ese caso y de otros, que la emoción poderosa vence las dificultades de transmisión.

«We do not seem to have static existence in the Hereafter, but continue our progress either for evil or for good.» — y la tesis que Cummins sostiene contra la teoría de la memoria común, que en el más allá no hay existencia estática sino progreso para bien o para mal.

«I felt extremely repelled by the unpleasant personality of Dr. Tomlin and I stopped his later attempts to write through me.» — y lo que Cummins declara haber hecho con ese comunicador, cortarle el paso, que es una decisión de ella y no de los comunicadores.

«Exactly the opposite was my reaction to my communicator ‘Mrs. Willett’. In her case I was sensible of a delightful and varied personality with a glancing wit. Her personality was indeed a trifle dominating, but she was clearly the fine, late Victorian English lady, public-spirited and a worker for others.» — y el retrato contrario, el de la comunicadora de este libro tal como Cummins la sintió.

«During her exploration of ‘the sub¬ terranean chambers of her mind’ when she discovered a certain very minor fault of hers (later verified) of which she had been ignorant she turned her dismay into correcting it at once and thereby was able to progress for the good of herself and others.» — y lo que Cummins tiene por prueba de progreso y no de mera memoria, que la comunicadora descubriera una falta suya y la enmendara.

«Doubtless, if we survive, we shall all have access to the tribunal of the subconscious mind and we shall make unpleasant discoveries about ourselves, but few will have Mrs. Willett’s brave honesty in admitting error, in rectifying it and in telling of it in her script-confession.» — y la doctrina que Cummins generaliza de ahí, con la figura del tribunal del subconsciente y la honestidad que atribuye a la confesión del script.

«The information in this script was known only to two or three strangers to me, and even if I had known Mrs. Willett in her lifetime I could not have learned of it.» — y el argumento evidencial que Cummins pone sobre esa confesión, que ni conociéndola en vida habría podido saberlo.

«From a study of the Cummins-Willett scripts much can be learned about the process of communication, no doubt because Mrs. Willett herself had practised the art from this end in the long period of her mediumship» — y la razón que Cummins da del valor de esta serie para el estudio del proceso, que la comunicadora había practicado el oficio desde este lado.

«My own method of concentrating on ‘stillness’ does not seem to have been hers. Why should it be?» — y la diferencia de método que Cummins consigna entre las dos, sin armonizarla.

«In any case, no doubt every practitioner of transmitted writing probably has his or her own suitable method for acquiring the best listening attitude, but, I should like to repeat, as these lines of communication seem to have to pass through regions apart from conscious thought it is hardly feasible to make a map of them.» — y la conclusión con que cierra el asunto del método, que cada practicante tendrá el suyo y que el mapa no es factible.

«It places my directing self in a strong position in which I have never been controlled by an alien mind. Mine has never been a case of ‘possession’ by another mind.» — la negativa central de Cummins sobre su propio oficio, que su yo director nunca ha sido controlado por una mente ajena y que lo suyo no es posesión.

«To use the words of the poet William Blake in relation to the writing of some of his poems, ‘I am the secretary. The authors are in eternity’.» — y la fórmula ajena con que lo dice, atribuida a un poeta, que es la que el libro entero pone en el lugar de la palabra médium.

«Certain people have said or written that ‘automatic writing is dangerous to the writer’. In my case there has been no danger experienced by me, possibly for the simple reason that mine has not been automatic writing. It has been transmitted writing taken down as by a reporter who has complete control of his physical body.» — y la respuesta de Cummins a la acusación de peligro, apoyada en la distinción de vocabulario que ella y la editora sostienen, transmitida y no automática.

«But I am aware that my conscious mind is more keenly alert and active in its pointed concentration during the transmitting process. This may possibly be so because on favourable occasions it appears to be raised through concentration to the higher subatomic level of energy.» — y lo que Cummins sí concede de su estado, una mente consciente más alerta y, con la cautela de un puede ser, elevada a un nivel de energía que llama subatómico.

«I did not in these proxy Willett sittings converse with Mrs. Willett. For this unsociability she severely chided me.» — y el reproche del script recogido por Cummins desde su lado, con la razón de oficio que da.

«Whether the content of my scripts are transmitted to me by a subconscious or unconscious mind or a discarnate communicator, that is for others than myself to judge.» — la última línea del volumen, y es una abstención: Cummins deja a otros el juicio sobre si lo que escribe viene de una mente subconsciente, de una inconsciente o de un comunicador descarnado.

«But in my dream I saw Mr. Salter seated opposite my son Henry and talking volubly to him—at least his lips kept moving. But it was in his mind I read the subject of the talk.» — del script treinta y uno: la voz describe el sueño en que ve a los dos hombres hablando y dice leer el asunto en la mente de uno de ellos y no en sus labios.

«Later when I roused up my first question to myself was—how did these two come together, when one, lives in England and the other abroad?» — y la pregunta que la voz se hace dentro del sueño, cómo coincidieron dos personas que viven en países distintos, que es el dato que el aparato después da por correcto.

«NUNC COCNOSCO EX PARTE TRENT UNIVERSITY» — el sello de la guarda del ejemplar digitalizado, con la divisa que el troceo imprime deformada, COCNOSCO por COGNOSCO; es la única línea latina del volumen y es del propietario, no del libro.

«Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation» — el aviso del escaneo, que data la digitalización y nombra a quien la financió; es aparato del archivo y no del impreso.

«JOHN N. EAST CM» — la dedicatoria del volumen, sola en su plana bajo la palabra For; las letras CM que el troceo pone debajo son residuo del escaneo.

«Foreword BY PROFESSOR C. D. BROAD Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge» — el rótulo con que se abre el texto de Broad, que da su grado y su casa: catedrático y fellow del Trinity College de Cambridge; el ancla aparece dos veces en el troceo, aquí y en el Contents de la plana 57, y se ancla en la primera.

«I have agreed, after considerable hesitation, at the request x\of the Publishers and of others, to write an Introduction» — Broad declara que aceptó tras dudarlo mucho y a petición de los editores y de otros, y llama Introduction a lo que la portada y el Contents rotulan Foreword; el troceo mete x\of por of, residuo del escaneo.

«Miss Cummins is an Irish lady, well known as the producer (in automatic script) of a number of interesting writings, some of which purport to contain detailed information, not available from normal historical sources, about incidents in the early history of Christianity.» — Broad presenta a Cummins como irlandesa conocida por producir en escritura automática escritos que, dice, pretenden traer información detallada sobre la historia temprana del cristianismo no disponible en fuentes históricas normales.

«As a good example of these writings I would mention her well-known book The Scripts of Cleophas» — y da por buen ejemplo de esos escritos el libro de Cummins sobre Cleofás, que el volumen data en 1928; el tramo se corta antes del año entre paréntesis.

«Signe Toksvig is a Danish lady whom I first came to know of through reading and reviewing her excellent book Emmanuel Swedenborg, Scientist and Mystic» — Broad presenta a la editora como danesa a quien conoció leyendo y reseñando su libro sobre Swedenborg; el tramo se corta antes del año entre paréntesis.

«The typescript was submitted to me, to some other senior members of the Society for Psychical Research, and to some other persons. Since then I have read the proofs.» — Broad dice por qué vías llegó el texto a sus manos: el mecanoescrito se pasó a él, a otros miembros veteranos de la Society for Psychical Research y a otras personas, y después leyó las pruebas.

«Now that lady had herself had the gift of auto¬ matic writing and speech.» — Broad señala lo que hace singular al caso: la comunicadora tuvo ella misma en vida el don de la escritura y el habla automáticas.

«Under the pseudonym of ‘Mrs. Willett’ she had been the vehicle for ostensible communications of a most remarkable kind» — Broad sitúa el seudónimo con que la comunicadora figura en la literatura de la S.P.R. y dice de qué fue vehículo, con el verbo de la reserva, ostensible.

«purporting to come from the sur¬ viving spirits of F. W. H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, and others of that distinguished group of friends who were among the founders and the most active early members of the Society for Psychical Research.» — y de quiénes se decía que venían esas comunicaciones: los espíritus sobrevivientes de Myers, Gurney y otros del grupo de amigos que fundaron y animaron la Society for Psychical Research.

«Her automatic scripts and trance-utterances, together with others which were produced contemporaneously by certain other automatists, and which appear to be signifi¬ cantly inter-connected in their content, have been intensively studied by experts, and they form the subject of a number of extremely important papers in the S.P.R. Proceedings.» — Broad describe el corpus anterior: los scripts y las locuciones en trance de la comunicadora, junto con los de otras automatistas contemporáneas, aparentemente entrelazados, estudiados por expertos y publicados en las Proceedings de la S.P.R.

«the phenomenology of Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s mediumship was carefully studied by Gerald Balfour (the second Earl of Balfour), who had had innumerable sittings with her and had been intimately acquainted with most of the persons who were ostensibly communicating through her.» — y nombra a quien estudió esa fenomenología: Gerald Balfour, segundo conde de Balfour, con innumerables sesiones y trato íntimo con casi todos los que ostensiblemente comunicaban por ella.

«He contributed in 1935 a highly elaborate and very valuable paper on this topic to the S.P.R. Proceedings (Vol. 43), entitled ‘A Study of the Psycho¬ logical Aspects of Mrs. Willett’s Mediumship’.» — Broad data y titula el trabajo de Balfour sobre el asunto en las Proceedings de la S.P.R.

«I have two and only two qualifications, beside my interest in the subject, for writing this Introduction.» — Broad acota su propia competencia a dos títulos, aparte de su interés por el asunto, y vuelve a llamar Introduction a su texto.

«I have been a member of the S.P.R. ‘establishment’ (if only on its outer fringes) for a great many years.» — el primero de esos dos títulos: pertenencia de muchos años al establishment de la S.P.R., con la acotación entre paréntesis de que solo en sus márgenes.

«Secondly, it so happens that Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s youngest son, Henry, who entered Trinity College as an undergraduate in 1932 and read Moral Sciences (in which he displayed out¬ standing ability), was my pupil during the whole of his time at Cambridge.» — el segundo título de Broad: haber sido tutor del hijo menor de la comunicadora durante toda su carrera en el Trinity College.

«She struck me (if I may say so) as a somewhat formidable lady, and I admired the way in which Henry, as it seemed to me, combined perfect politeness and respect towards her with com¬ plete refusal to be dominated by her.» — la impresión personal que Broad guarda de la comunicadora, y la manera en que el hijo, dice, juntaba respeto perfecto con negativa completa a dejarse dominar.

«Her son Alexander has des¬ cribed her to me as an ‘extremely discreet person’, and he has quoted to me as a favourite saying of hers: ‘Never give unneces¬ sary information!’.» — Broad cita al hijo mayor, que describe a su madre como persona extremadamente discreta y le atribuye un dicho favorito, no dar información innecesaria.

«The Countess of Balfour states (‘The “Palm Sunday” Case’. S.P.R. Proceedings, Vol. 52, Part 189, Feb. I960) that Mr. Coombe Tennant was fully aware of his wife’s psychic activities, and had no apparent objection to them, but that some other members of the family disapproved strongly.» — Broad recoge de la condesa de Balfour, con referencia al artículo del Palm Sunday Case en las Proceedings, que el marido conocía las actividades psíquicas de su mujer y no ponía reparos, y que otros de la familia las desaprobaban con fuerza.

«The facts were, of course, known to the Balfours, to certain friends and colleagues closely associated with them in psychical research (notably Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr. Piddington, Mrs. Verrall, and Miss Alice Johnson), and to Mr. W. H. Salter and his wife (nee Helen Verrall).» — Broad enumera el círculo que sí estaba al tanto: los Balfour, Oliver Lodge, Piddington, Mrs. Verrall y Alice Johnson, y el matrimonio Salter.

«She developed the gift of automatic writing after her husband’s death in 1913, and she played a prominent part (under the pseudonym of ‘Mrs. King’) in the ‘cross-corres¬ pondence’ phenomena, in which Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s scripts were also involved.» — Broad sitúa a Dame Edith Lyttelton, que desarrolló la escritura automática tras enviudar y figuró bajo otro seudónimo en los fenómenos de correspondencia cruzada donde también entraban los scripts de la comunicadora.

«I should be surprised if anyone, outside the small circle of friends and relatives mentioned above, was aware, during Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s lifetime, of the identity of the 'Mrs. Willett’, whose scripts and whose mediumship had been the subject of so much discussion in the S.P.R. Proceedings.» — Broad mide hasta dónde llegaba el secreto: le sorprendería que alguien fuera de ese círculo supiera en vida de ella quién era la automatista de las Proceedings.

«There is ample material in various publications for an account of the main outlines of the non-mediumistic aspects of Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s life. And there is an immense mass of in¬ formation in the S.P.R. Proceedings about her mediumistic activities under the pseudonym of‘Mrs. Willett’. I propose now to treat in turn those two topics.» — Broad declara el plan de su texto y la desproporción de las fuentes: mucho publicado sobre la vida no mediúmnica y una masa inmensa en las Proceedings sobre la mediúmnica.

«Winifred Margaret Pearce-Serocold (fcr that was her maiden name) was born on November 1, 1874.» — Broad abre la biografía con el nombre de soltera y la fecha de nacimiento de la comunicadora; el troceo imprime fcr donde el impreso dice for.

«Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s father, George Pearce-Serocold (1828-1912), joined the Royal Navy at the age of thirteen, and saw service in the first China War.» — Broad sigue la línea paterna: marino desde los trece años y servicio en la primera guerra de China; el tramo se corta antes de la fecha entre paréntesis del tratado.

«On December 12, 1895, Winifred Pearce-Serocold married Charles Coombe Tennant of Cadoxton Lodge, Glamorganshire.» — la fecha del matrimonio y el nombre y la casa del marido.

«The Tennants of Cadoxton (who are not to be confused with another famous family of that name, to which Margot Asquith and her sister Laura Lyttelton belonged) are of purely English origin.» — Broad separa a esta familia Tennant de la otra más famosa del mismo apellido, y le da origen enteramente inglés pese a su arraigo galés.

«She was a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, through his daughter Frances.» — de la suegra de la comunicadora, a quien Broad llama personaje notable de su tiempo, dice que descendía de Oliver Cromwell por su hija Frances.

«Of her husband’s sisters one, Eveleen, married in 1880 F. W. H. Myers (1843-1901), the author of that posthumously published classic of psychical research Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death, and one of the founders and the most active early members of the S.P.R.» — Broad da el parentesco que enlaza a la comunicadora con la investigación psíquica: una cuñada suya casó con Myers, autor de Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death y fundador de la S.P.R.

«Cadoxton is named after the sixth-century Welsh saint and martyr Cadoc, who is commemorated in a number of Welsh place-names, e.g., Llangattock.» — Broad explica el topónimo de la casa de campo por el santo y mártir galés del siglo VI que dejó nombre a varios lugares.

«She has given a very full description of the house and of its beautiful surroundings in the memoir which she contributed to the book Christopher, compiled by Sir Oliver Lodge with her co-operation, and published by Messrs. Cassell» — Broad remite a la memoria que la comunicadora escribió para el libro que Oliver Lodge compiló con su colaboración; el tramo se corta antes del año.

«This book is a moving biographical tribute to the mem¬ ory of her eldest child, Christopher, who fell in Flanders on September 3, 1917, shortly before his twentieth birthday.» — y dice qué es ese libro: homenaje biográfico al hijo mayor de la comunicadora, muerto en Flandes poco antes de cumplir veinte años; el troceo corta memory con el guion U+00AC.

«It contains much factual information, and indirectly throws much light on her character, ideals, and beliefs.» — Broad señala para qué le sirve ese libro: trae mucho dato y alumbra de rebote el carácter, los ideales y las creencias de ella.

«The vast majority of the letters in Christopher are between him and his mother. His are generally signed ‘CruflP. It is plain from them that there was an extremely close link between mother and son.» — Broad mide el vínculo por la correspondencia: casi todas las cartas del libro van entre madre e hijo, y de ellas saca un lazo estrechísimo.

«The father is very little in the picture, and one might be inclined to infer from the contents and the emphasis of the book that he played a somewhat minor role in a predominantly matriarchal household.» — y consigna lo que el mismo libro deja ver del padre, con la cautela de una inferencia y no de una aserción.

«Lodge states, however, that Charles Coombe Tennant had much to do with Christopher when the latter was young, and that their relations remained intimate and almost fraternal up to the end.» — Broad pone al lado el testimonio contrario de Oliver Lodge, que hace estrecha y casi fraternal la relación de padre e hijo; las dos versiones quedan sin armonizar.

«the Countess of Balfour remarks that ‘Mrs. Willett was a lady who had a very strong predilection for maternity’.» — Broad cita de la condesa de Balfour el rasgo que ella destaca en la comunicadora, una predilección muy fuerte por la maternidad.

«states that Mrs. Coombe Tennant has recorded that early in 1905, i.e. some eight years after Christopher’s birth, she suddenly began, for no discernible reason, to find herself longing for another child. That desire persisted and became a daily thought.» — Broad recoge de W. H. Salter lo que la comunicadora dejó registrado: un deseo de otro hijo que le vino sin razón discernible y se le hizo pensamiento diario.

«she gave birth to her second child and only daughter, Daphne, whose brief life and tragic death were a turning-point in Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s spiritual development.» — Broad fija el hecho que él mismo tiene por bisagra: el nacimiento de la hija, cuya vida breve y muerte trágica marcan el giro en el desarrollo espiritual de la madre.

«She died in London, after a sudden and short illness, in the early morning of July 21, 1908.» — la fecha y la circunstancia de esa muerte, a los diecinueve meses de edad.

«Lodge writes of her: ‘From the testi¬ mony of those who knew the infant I judge that nothing less than genius will account for the impression she made’.» — Broad cita a Lodge sobre la impresión que la niña dejaba en quienes la conocieron.

«her one attitude towards outward objects seemed to be love, and her chief desire to express all the love her little heart held» — y cita, por Lodge, una frase de la memoria que la madre escribió e imprimió en privado sobre la niña.

«That con¬ viction came to be shared by Christopher, and it led to the fol¬ lowing compact between mother and son when he was on leave at Cadoxton shortly before going out to Flanders.» — Broad dice que el hijo compartió esa convicción y que de ahí salió un pacto entre los dos, hecho en un permiso anterior a Flandes.

«As a result of this, the news of Christopher’s death, when it came on the evening of September 6, 1917, though naturally grievous, was not shattering.» — Broad mide el efecto de ese pacto: la noticia de la muerte, dice, fue penosa y no demoledora.

«Their mother long survived her hus¬ band, dying in her eighty-third year on August 31, 1956. at her home in London.» — Broad data la muerte de la comunicadora en su casa de Londres, a los ochenta y dos años cumplidos.

«She had very early become an enthusiastic supporter of the extension of the suffrage to women, and had worked to that end with Mrs. Fawcett.» — Broad abre el inventario de la vida pública: sufragismo temprano y trabajo con Millicent Fawcett.

«In 1920 she was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and sat on the Glamorganshire County bench, being the first woman to be a magistrate there.» — la magistratura, con el dato de precedencia que Broad subraya.

«She took that duty very seriously, and was instrumental in effecting some highly sensible and prac¬ tical reforms in the treatment of prisoners.» — y lo que hizo como jueza visitadora de la cárcel de Swansea, con reformas que Broad llama sensatas y prácticas; el troceo corta practical con el guion U+00AC.

«she was the first woman to be appointed by the British Government as a delegate to its Assembly.» — el otro dato de precedencia: primera mujer nombrada por el gobierno británico delegada en la Asamblea de la Sociedad de Naciones.

«For many years she played an active part in the ‘Gorsedd’ or ‘Circle of Bards’, in the capacity of ‘Mistress of the Robes’, and she had the official title of‘Mam-o-Nedd’ (‘Mother of Neath’).» — Broad consigna su papel en el Gorsedd galés, con el cargo y el título oficial que llevaba.

«in recognition of her services, the Arch Druid conferred on her the honorary Eisteddfodic degree of ‘Ovate’.» — y el grado honorario que el Arch Druid le confirió en reconocimiento de sus servicios.

«At the centre of these is G. W. Balfour’s comprehensive paper: ‘A Study of the Psychological Aspects of Mrs. Willett’s Mediumship, and of the Statements of the Com¬ municators concerning Process’» — Broad pone en el centro del expediente de la S.P.R. el trabajo de G. W. Balfour, cuyo título añade lo que aquí importa, las declaraciones de los comunicadores sobre el proceso mismo.

«In the S.P.R. Journal (vol. 39, No. 694) for December of next year there appeared the Obituary Notice of Mrs. Coombe Tennant, which made public for the first time her identity with ‘Mrs. Willett’.» — Broad data el momento en que el seudónimo se destapa: la nota necrológica del Journal de la S.P.R. de diciembre del año siguiente hizo pública por primera vez la identidad de la comunicadora.

«Mrs. Willett was first introduced in the literature of the subject, so far as I know, in two papers in Proceedings» — Broad fecha la entrada del seudónimo en la bibliografía del asunto, con la cautela de un hasta donde yo sé; el tramo se corta antes de la referencia de volumen y año.

«Sir Oliver Lodge: ‘Evidence of Classical Scholarship and of Cross Correspondence in some new Auto¬ matic Writing’, and Mrs. Verrall: ‘Notes on Mrs. Willett’s Scripts» — los dos trabajos con que empieza esa bibliografía, de Oliver Lodge y de Mrs. Verrall, con el asunto de la correspondencia cruzada en el título del primero.

«Then came in fairly quick succession two important papers by Balfour concerning automatic scripts in which Mrs. Willettt had played an essential part» — Broad encadena los dos trabajos siguientes de Balfour sobre scripts en que la comunicadora tuvo parte esencial; el tramo se corta antes de los títulos y sus años.

«After Balfour’s paper of 1935, on the psycho¬ logical aspects of Mrs. Willett’s mediumship and on the state¬ ments made by the ostensible communicators as to the processes involved, there is a long interval, extending well beyond the date of Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s death in 1956.» — Broad marca el hueco de la bibliografía: después del trabajo de 1935 sobre los aspectos psicológicos y sobre lo que los comunicadores ostensibles decían del proceso, un intervalo largo que pasa de la muerte de la comunicadora.

«This is wholly concerned with certain scripts and trance-utterances of Mrs. Willett, which will be described be¬» — del trabajo de Jean Balfour, condesa de Balfour, dice que va enteramente sobre ciertos scripts y locuciones en trance de la comunicadora, que él describirá más abajo.

«But these, as Mr. Salter argues, appear to contain indubitable refer¬ ences, though in cryptic language, to the forthcoming birth and the early death of Daphne Coombe Tennant, at a time when the writers could have had no normal knowledge about those still future events.» — Broad recoge el argumento de Salter sobre unos scripts ajenos: que traen referencias, cifradas pero indudables a su juicio, al nacimiento y a la muerte temprana de la hija, cuando quienes escribían no podían saberlo por vía normal.

«(e.g., Myers, Verrall, and Butcher) who were ostensibly com¬ municating through her.» — y ahí se nombran esos eruditos muertos, en la continuación de la frase cortada en la plana anterior.

«Mrs. Coombe Ten¬ nant was undoubtedly a highly intelligent woman, artistically gifted, practically efficient, and of excellent general education which she had never allowed to rust.» — Broad describe las dotes de la comunicadora antes de poner el límite que sigue.

«Here Mrs. Willett, in a long series of automatic scripts and trance-utterances, seems to be referring, cryptically but in the aggregate unmistakably, to a very private and personal matter in the early life of Gerald Balfour’s elder brother, the Conservative statesman A. J. Balfour» — Broad describe el caso llamado del Domingo de Ramos: una serie larga de scripts y locuciones en trance que, dice, parecen referirse de manera cifrada pero en conjunto inequívoca a un asunto muy privado de la vida temprana del hermano mayor de Gerald Balfour; el tramo se corta antes de las fechas entre paréntesis.

«This was his love for Catherine Mary Lyttelton; her tragic death from typhus on Palm Sunday 1875, before he had declared himself; the very singular action which he took at the time, un¬ known to the other members of his family, to show his devotion; and certain incidents in his last illness, as a very old man in 1929, which seemed to suggest her continued existence and affection and her active intervention.» — y enumera de qué constaba el asunto: el amor no declarado, la muerte de ella de tifus en el Domingo de Ramos de 1875, la acción muy singular que él tomó entonces y ciertos incidentes de su última enfermedad que, dice, parecían sugerir la existencia continuada, el afecto y la intervención activa de ella.

«about the silver box which the latter had had made after 1875 to contain a tress of Mary Lyttelton’s beautiful hair, cut off at her death in that year.» — el objeto alrededor del cual gira ese caso, tal como Gerald Balfour lo supo de su hermano.

«Mrs. Coombe Tennant liked, respected, and admired Myers; but a family quarrel developed with his wife.» — Broad abre el relato del desarrollo de la mediumnidad por el trato con Myers y por la riña de familia con la viuda.

«that he had tried repeatedly, and, as he believed, success¬ fully, to get in touch with her surviving spirit; and that he was avowedly looking forward with confident longing to rejoining her on the astral plane immediately after his own death.» — Broad atenúa la conducta de la viuda de Myers contando lo que ella tenía enfrente: que él había intentado repetidamente, y a su juicio con éxito, ponerse en contacto con el espíritu sobreviviente de la mujer a quien había querido antes, y que declaraba esperar reunirse con ella en el plano astral apenas muriera.

«It was probably through her admiration for Myers that Mrs. Coombe Tennant became an Associate Member of the S.P.R. soon after his death in 1901.» — Broad atribuye a esa admiración el ingreso de la comunicadora en la S.P.R. como miembro asociado.

«She was, however, not greatly interested in psychic matters at that time, and she resigned her associate membership in 1905.» — y consigna lo contrario en el mismo párrafo: que entonces el asunto no le interesaba mucho y que renunció a esa condición de asociada.

«She stated that she had lost her child Daphne a week before, and that she had decided to inform Mrs. Verrall at once, lest any allusion to Daphne that might occur in the latter’s script might be overlooked.» — el contenido de la carta que la comunicadora escribió a Mrs. Verrall una semana después de la muerte de la niña, y la razón que dio para escribirla.

«Mrs. Coombe Tennant read in the S.P.R. Proceedings a paper by Miss Alice Johnson entitled ‘A Report on Mrs. Holland’s Script’.» — la lectura que, según Broad, precede a su primer intento: el informe de Alice Johnson sobre los scripts de otra automatista.

«The name ‘Mrs. Holland’ was a pseudonym for Mrs. Alice Macdonald Fleming, a sister of Rudyard Kipling, living in India, who was producing automatic writing.» — y Broad levanta ese otro seudónimo, con el nombre y el parentesco de quien lo llevaba.

«That wish was expressed again and again in ostensible communications purporting to come from Gurney.» — Broad consigna la insistencia de esa petición dentro de las comunicaciones ostensibles, con el verbo de la reserva.

«Thereafter Balfour became almost the only sitter with Mrs. Willett, and hundreds of sittings were held in the next twenty years, some¬ times at Cadoxton and sometimes at Balfour’s house, Fisher’s Hill, Woking.» — Broad mide el volumen del arreglo anterior: centenares de sesiones en veinte años, casi siempre con el mismo asistente y en dos casas.

«Piddington had been a businessman, and in that capacity he rendered valuable service to the S.P.R. in the conduct of its finances. But he was also, like Balfour, a fine scholar, with immense patience and pertinacity in tracing obscure allusions and unravelling literary puzzles.» — Broad describe al segundo estudioso del grupo, hombre de negocios útil a las finanzas de la S.P.R. y a la vez erudito paciente y tenaz para rastrear alusiones oscuras.

«With them ended the ‘old guard’ of the S.P.R. Of the next generation, their spiritual heirs, Dame Edith Lyttelton died in 1948, and Mrs. Coombe Tennant (as we have seen) in 1956 at the age of eighty-two.» — Broad cierra la generación: con esas muertes acaba la vieja guardia de la S.P.R., y de la siguiente da las dos fechas que a este libro le importan.

«I think it will be useful, at this point, for the reader to have before him, for reference, the following chronological table, which summarizes the main relevant biographical and biblio¬ graphical facts up to and including Mrs. Coombe Tennant’s death:» — Broad anuncia la tabla cronológica que sigue y dice para qué la pone, resumir los hechos biográficos y bibliográficos principales hasta la muerte de la comunicadora.

«CHRONOLIGICAL TABLE UP TO MRS. COOMBE TENNANT’S DEATH» — el rótulo de esa tabla, con la errata que el troceo imprime, CHRONOLIGICAL por CHRONOLOGICAL.

«F. W. H. Myers falls in love with Mrs. Annie Marshall (‘Phyllis’)» — una fila de la tabla, tomada como muestra: la que fecha en 1873 el enamoramiento que después explica la conducta de Myers y la riña de familia.

«Mary Catherine Lyttelton died (Palm Sunday, 2l/3)» — otra fila de muestra: la muerte que da nombre al caso del Domingo de Ramos; el troceo imprime la cifra del día deformada.

«First published accounts of ‘Mrs. tact with Gerald Bal-Willett’s’ scripts.» — la fila de 1911, que es la que fecha la aparición pública de los scripts bajo el seudónimo.

«Geraldine Cummins gave one sitting at Fishers Hill, Woking, to Ger¬ ald and Lady Betty Balfour» — la fila de 1939, que es el único contacto anterior entre la automatista de este libro y la familia Balfour; el troceo corta Gerald con el guion U+00AC.

«Geraldine Cummins read extracts from G. W. Balfour’s ‘Study of the Psychological Aspects of Mrs. Willett’s Mediumship’ in a book by Tyrrell and a book by Salt» — la fila de 1955, que declara qué había leído la automatista del trabajo de Balfour sobre la mediumnidad de la comunicadora, y por qué vía; el tramo se corta en el guion de renglón de Saltmarsh.

«With the above Chronological Table before him for reference, the reader is now invited to address himself to the following Synopsis of the main contents of the Scripts, in the order of their occurrence, with Notes on relevant circumstances at the dates in question:» — Broad pasa de la tabla a la sinopsis y declara el orden en que la dará, el de la ocurrencia de los scripts, con notas de circunstancias.

«Introduction of Commu¬ nicator. Name ‘Wyn’ or ‘Win’. Son killed at 19 or 20 in World War I.» — de la sinopsis, el contenido que Broad resume del primer script: presentación de la comunicadora, un nombre y un hijo muerto en la primera guerra; el troceo corta Communicator con el guion U+00AC.

«G.C. held W.H.S.’s letter to her forehead. All this is correct for Mrs. C.T. and her sons» — y la nota de circunstancias que Broad pone enfrente en la otra columna: el procedimiento con la carta y su juicio de que todo eso cuadra con la comunicadora y sus hijos.

«No use was made of specimens of his mother’s handwriting provided by ‘Major Tennant’ (Henry), in obtaining the first three scripts» — la nota de circunstancias del tercer script, que declara lo que NO se usó: las muestras de letra de la madre que el hijo había proporcionado.

«G.W.B. explicitly takes G.C. presented paper charge first, and commu» — del cuarto script, el tramo de la columna de contenidos donde el control anuncia quién toma el mando; la plana trae las dos columnas entreveradas renglón a renglón por el escaneo y el verbatim se corta donde deja de ser contiguo en el impreso.

«At the end of October, 1957 W.H.S. called on G.C. and informed her that 'Mrs. Willett’ had been Mrs. C.T.» — la nota de circunstancias que fecha el momento en que la automatista supo con quién se la había hecho comunicar, dos meses después del primer script.

«revealing her identity with ‘Mrs. Willett’, and stating that she had been a magistrate and a dele¬ gate to the League of Nations» — la entrada de diciembre de 1957, que es cuando la nota necrológica del Journal de la S.P.R. revela la identidad y da los dos cargos públicos; el troceo corta delegate con el guion U+00AC.

«in communication, illus¬ trated by her experiences with interpreters at League of Nations.» — de la sinopsis del octavo script: la comunicadora explica las dificultades de comunicar valiéndose de su propia experiencia con los intérpretes de la Sociedad de Naciones; el tramo empieza donde deja de entreverarse con la columna de notas.

«W. describes difficulties Continuation of Script 7,» — y así entrevera el escaneo las dos columnas de esta plana, renglón a renglón: el arranque del contenido del octavo script pega con el arranque de su nota, que lo declara continuación del séptimo; se cita tal cual para dejar el defecto a la vista.

«Continuation of W.’s memories of her earthly life. Widowhood in 1938, and anxiety about Henry (then a boy of 15 at Eton). Enlarges on the essential identity of a human indi¬ vidual through great changes of personality, in earthly life; and hence argues for possibility of survival of bodily death» — de la sinopsis del undécimo script: memorias de la vida terrena, la viudez y la ansiedad por el hijo menor, y de ahí un argumento que Broad resume como identidad esencial del individuo a través de grandes cambios de personalidad, y por eso posibilidad de supervivencia a la muerte del cuerpo.

«Mrs. Sitwell, in course of conversation with G.C., informs G.C. of A.J.B.’s early love-affair, of the death of the girl, and of the fate of the in¬ tended engagement-ring, but does not mention the girl’s name.» — una nota de circunstancias que Broad intercala fuera de todo script: una conversación en que se le cuenta a la automatista el amorío temprano y la suerte del anillo, sin darle el nombre de la muchacha.

«G.C. finds Script 14 (which she had mislaid), and is struck with the similarity to what Mrs. Sitwell had told her. She consults Mrs. Gay (of the S.P.R.) as to what to do with the script. Mrs. Gay consults W.H.S.» — y la nota siguiente, que fecha el momento en que la automatista da con el script traspapelado y le choca el parecido con lo que le acababan de contar.

«She states, wrongly, that correctly stated in Script her son George was at the 26. The politician was school (Eton) of which Alfred Lyttelton. His one of the ‘Lobs’, whom second wife was Dame she disliked, was head» — de la sinopsis del script diecisiete, un error que Broad consigna sin atenuarlo: la comunicadora dice, equivocadamente, en qué colegio estuvo su hijo mayor; el tramo se corta donde la columna deja de ser contigua.

«More about the ‘Lobs’. It appears, from Jean They held seances, very Balfour’s ‘The “Palm privately.» — del script dieciocho: las sesiones muy privadas que, según el script, celebraba esa familia.

«Inception of ‘Willett’ mediumship continued. Essential part played by» — del script veinte: el comienzo de la mediumnidad anterior, con la parte esencial que el script atribuye a un espíritu; el ancla aparece dos veces en la plana, por los scripts veinte y veintiuno, y se ancla en la primera.

«The relevant facts about F.W.H.M. and ‘Phyllis’ (Mrs. Annie Marshall) were first made public in Oct., 1958, in W.H.S.’s paper ‘F.W.H. Myers’ Posthumous Message’» — la nota de circunstancias que Broad pone enfrente y que es un argumento de fecha: lo que el script cuenta de ese amorío no se había publicado hasta unos meses después.

«W.H.S., after being consulted by Mrs. Gay on G.C.’s behalf, writes to G.C., urging her not to destroy Script 14 (as she had thought of doing), but to let him and Henry see it» — una nota de circunstancias sin script: la carta en que el investigador pide a la automatista que no destruya el script traspapelado y los deje verlo.

«Mention of Daphne, whose death is stated to be the initiation of all these psychic experiments.» — del script veintiséis, la frase que fija el origen que el propio material se da: la muerte de la hija como iniciación de todos esos experimentos psíquicos.

«W. used to treat her ‘unseen guests’ as a ‘hostess’, not as a mere passive reporter» — del script veintisiete: cómo dice la comunicadora que trataba a sus huéspedes invisibles, como anfitriona y no como mera relatora pasiva.

«Summary of conditions favourable to communica¬ tion. Describes a mystical experience, in union with the spirit of F.W.H.M. Expounds, in this con¬ nexion, a theory of ‘Group Souls’» — del script veintiocho: condiciones favorables a la comunicación, una experiencia mística en unión con un espíritu y, a propósito de ella, una teoría de almas de grupo.

«The ideas in the latter part of this Script occur in two books by G.C., viz., BeyondHuman Personality (l 935) and The Road to Immortality (1955). In both cases they are supposed to have been communicated by» — la nota de circunstancias de ese script, releída entera en el crudo por llevar dos años entre paréntesis: Broad señala que esas ideas ya estaban en dos libros anteriores de la automatista, y que en los dos se suponen comunicadas por el mismo espíritu; el troceo funde Beyond Human y deforma la cifra de un año.

«(1) A human life is a play, in which the ‘primary self’ is the central character, and the others are ‘aspects or units’ of it.» — del script veintinueve: la vida humana como obra de teatro, con el yo primario de personaje central y los demás por aspectos o unidades suyas.

«W.H.S.’s ‘F.W.H. Myers’ Posthumous Message’ appeared in S.P.R. Proceedings, giv¬ ing first published account of F.W.H.M.’s tragic love-affair with ‘Phyllis’» — la entrada de octubre de 1958, que fecha la primera publicación del amorío al que los scripts venían aludiendo.

«W.’s account of her resis¬ tance to giving sittings in presence of a stranger; of the pressure put on her from ‘the other side’ to do so; and of her finally con¬ senting to sit for O.L.» — del script veinticuatro: la resistencia de la comunicadora a dar sesiones ante un extraño, la presión que el script dice venida del otro lado y su consentimiento final; el troceo corta resistance y consenting con el guion U+00AC, que no se une.

«relents, and relates in con- follow terrestrial events,» — así queda esta plana en el escaneo: la columna de contenidos y la de notas caen fundidas en un mismo renglón, de modo que la frase del script treinta y la de la carta del hijo se leen seguidas sin serlo; se cita tal cual para dejar el defecto a la vista y por eso las citas de estas planas van cortas.

«Yet in fact the only statesman she ever really helped or influenced (and that only in his in¬ most private life) was» — de la sinopsis del script treinta y dos: el resumen de Broad acota lo que el script dice de la vida pública de la comunicadora y remite el único influjo real al terreno más privado; el troceo corta inmost con el guion U+00AC.

«W. proposes to call the de¬ ceased ‘Mrs. X.’ Her husband, ‘Mr. X’, is a friend of Henry’s. ‘Mrs. X’ is represented as a relative of the Tennants» — del script treinta y cuatro: la voz propone un nombre supuesto para la muerta reciente de quien habla en forma cifrada.

«It is quite plain, from the context and the sequel, that the daughter is Helen S., that her mother is Mrs. V., and that ‘Mr. X.’ is W.H.S.» — y la nota de circunstancias que levanta ese velo: para Broad el contexto y lo que sigue hacen evidente a quién nombran esas iniciales.

«Verrall. (That it does so, is perfectly obvious to anyone familiar with A.W.V., his character and interests, and his martyrdom to arthritis.) The name ‘Mrs. Flower’ is a pseudonym for an active member of the S.P.R.» — de la nota del script treinta y siete, el tramo que sí es contiguo en el impreso: Broad añade entre paréntesis que el retrato del comunicador entrometido le resulta obvio a quien conociera el carácter y la artritis de ese hombre, y levanta el nombre supuesto de la destinataria.

«spirit of E.G. in organiz¬ ing her communications through G.C., and, in par¬ ticular those concerning 'Mrs. X.’ ‘Mrs. X.’ is now revealed as Mrs. W. H. Salter (nk Helen Verrall), daughter of W.’s old friend and counsellor, Mrs. A. W. Verrall (‘Mar¬ garet’). W. again apolo¬ gizes for certain sarcastic passages, due to E.G., which she thinks in bad taste. Ends with latest news of Helen S., whom W. has now met» — del script treinta y seis: la voz atribuye a un espíritu la organización de sus comunicaciones por esta automatista, se levanta el nombre supuesto y la voz vuelve a disculparse por unos pasajes sarcásticos que achaca a otro.

«(2) Helen S. then takes over, and describes her present life as a kind of dreamreproduction of her early» — del script treinta y ocho: el resumen dice que otra voz toma el relevo y describe su vida presente como una reproducción onírica de su casa temprana; span une dreamreproduction donde el impreso parte dream-reproduction al final del renglón.

«Alexander, for what she feels to have been her in-Cf. Scripts 10 and 19 justice to him as a small boy, and describes the psychological background of her attitude towards him and towards Henry. This has been brought home to her by meeting, and being repulsed by, the spirit of» — del script treinta y nueve: la voz se disculpa con el segundo hijo por lo que siente haber sido injusticia con él de niño y dice qué se lo hizo ver.

«G.C. meets Henry for first time, in a brief call which he make’s at her flat» — la nota de circunstancias que fecha el primer encuentro en persona entre la automatista y el hijo menor, dos años y tres meses después del primer script.

«S.P.R. publishes, by sub¬ scription, for the first time, F.W.H.M.’s privately printed ‘Frag¬ ments of Inner Life’, which are concerned with the ‘Phyllis’ episode» — la entrada de marzo de 1961: la publicación por suscripción de un texto impreso en privado que toca el episodio al que los scripts aludían.

«Describes cer¬ tain passages in auto¬ matic scripts which seem, on retrospect, to refer proleptically to Daphne, and to foreshadow her early death» — la última entrada de la tabla, de 1963: un trabajo que describe pasajes de scripts automáticos que, vistos en retrospectiva, parecen referirse por anticipado a la hija y anunciar su muerte temprana.

«G.C. states that she was unaware of its exist¬ ence until Henry informed her of it in November, 1959.» — Broad consigna lo que la automatista declara sobre el libro de Lodge que más datos traía: que no supo de su existencia hasta que el hijo menor se lo dijo.

«(Cf. e.g., the achievements of ‘Miss Helene Smith’, des¬ cribed in Professor Flournoy’s famous book: Des Indes au planete Mars.)» — y da el caso clásico de ese tipo de poderes, con el libro y el nombre de quien lo describió.

«I have discussed elsewhere, to the best of my ability, this very real dilemma, and I can only refer any reader who may be interested in my views to the relevant sections of my book Lectures on Psychical Research.» — Broad remite a su propio libro para el dilema que acaba de plantear, y lo llama muy real.

«foreword by Professor C. D. Broad page vii introduction by Signe Toksvig lv THE BEGINNING OF THE CUMMINS—WILLETT scripts by Geraldine Cummins 1 THE SCRIPTS AND NOTES 7 personal background by Geraldine Cummins 147 the lines of communication by Geraldine» — el Contents del volumen, que es donde se ve el reparto de voces por capítulos y sus páginas impresas; el troceo lo saca de sitio, en una plana anterior a la Introduction.

«HE title Swa?i on a Black Sea, taken from a phrase in the X Cummins-Willett scripts, suggested to one reader the question: ‘Is there an entity, sometimes called a soul, that rises like a swan from the black sea of death?’» — Toksvig abre la Introduction dando la procedencia del título, tomado de una frase de los propios scripts, y la pregunta que le sugirió a un lector; el troceo deforma Swan en Swa?i y mete una X de la capitular.

«I was making preparatory studies for a biography of Emanuel Swedenborg, the great Swedish scientist and mystic of the eighteenth century. In his diaries he confessed that at times his hand seemed to write ‘of itself’, often things with which he disagreed.» — Toksvig cuenta de dónde le viene el interés: preparando una biografía de Swedenborg dio con la confesión de él de que a veces su mano parecía escribir por sí sola, y cosas con las que no estaba de acuerdo.

«In my researches among modern mediums, however, I could find none whose capacities approached those of Swedenborg’s, either in matter or manner, until I came upon Gerald Balfour’s ‘Study of the Psychological Aspects of Mrs. Willett’s Mediumship, and of the Statements of the Communicators concerning Process’.» — Toksvig dice por qué llegó a este caso: entre los médiums modernos no halló ninguno comparable hasta dar con el trabajo de Gerald Balfour sobre la mediumnidad de la comunicadora.

«Naturally I tried to meet her. I soon found out that her name was a pseudonym, but not even past Presidents of the Society for Psychical Research knew her real name. Her anonymity was relentless.» — y lo que halló al buscarla: un seudónimo cuyo nombre real no conocían ni los antiguos presidentes de la Society for Psychical Research.

«I then, in the books of Miss Geraldine Cummins, came across other cases of transmitted writings (now technically known as ‘scripts’). These also had similarities to those of Swedenborg.» — Toksvig cuenta cómo llegó a la automatista de este libro y por dónde: escritos transmitidos, que es donde da el término técnico que el volumen usa, scripts.

«In 1955 I succeeded in meeting Miss Cummins, and since then we have kept in frequent touch.» — Toksvig data su trato personal con la automatista, dos años antes del primer script.

«She was given only the name, unknown to her, of the son, and later on, some scraps of the mother’s handwriting.» — Toksvig describe el material de partida del experimento: solo un nombre desconocido y, después, unos fragmentos de letra de la madre.

«As a compli¬ ment to the distinguished inquirer, she wrote to me, she intended to do only one or two scripts, but the personality of the com¬ municator fascinated her, and she did six before her attention» — y lo que la automatista le escribió del asunto: que pensaba hacer uno o dos scripts por cortesía y llegó a seis porque la personalidad de la comunicadora la fascinó.

«In that notice it was stated that ‘Mrs. Willett’ of the famous Balfour Study had been the pseudonym of a certain English lady who, Miss Cummins had realized, was the very same woman from whom she was obtaining these vigorous scripts.» — el momento del reconocimiento, contado por Toksvig: la nota necrológica revelaba que el seudónimo del estudio famoso era el de la misma mujer de quien venían los scripts.

«For personal reasons the lady will chiefly be referred to as Mrs. Willett, ‘Winifred’ for short, since—an oddity in the other world, first names seem to be used there as frequently as in modern America.» — la regla de nombres que Toksvig adopta para el libro, con la observación sobre el uso de los nombres de pila en el otro mundo puesta entre guiones como rareza.

«The notes at the end of each script will attempt to assess the correctness of the information given and of the likelihood that Miss Cummins could not have had normal knowledge of it.» — Toksvig declara la función del aparato de notas que ella firma dentro de los scripts: calibrar si la información es correcta y si la automatista pudo tenerla por vía normal.

«My own experience with such a medium has been with Mrs. Bertha Harris, whose probity and excellence in such matters are most justifiably praised.» — Toksvig aporta su propio testimonio sobre ese tipo de sesión, con el nombre de la médium con quien lo tuvo.

«Still, out of about forty statements given as facts by Mrs. Harris, about thirty were correct and the rest non-verifiable.» — y da las cifras de ese testimonio suyo, con la parte no verificable dicha como tal.

«The so-called ‘book tests’ appear to support the mediumisticomniscience point of view. Certain mediums have been able to tell, roughly, what was printed on, say, page seven in a book with a green cover, fourth from the end of the last shelf in a book-case in a room where they’d never been, perhaps even in a far-away house.» — Toksvig describe la prueba que se alega en favor de esa omnisciencia mediúmnica, con el ejemplo del libro de cubierta verde en un cuarto donde el médium nunca estuvo; span une mediumisticomniscience donde el impreso parte mediumistic-omniscience al final del renglón.

«I agree with Sir Oliver Lodge in calling her of ‘transparent honesty’.» — Toksvig se apoya en la fórmula de Oliver Lodge sobre la automatista y la suscribe.

«Francis Hackett had been interested in my interest in psychical research, which began about twenty years ago, mainly because of the Swedenborg biography, but he did not commit himself fully to a belief in the survival of personal consciousness after death, until he read and re-read the Cummins-Willett scripts.» — Toksvig data la conversión de su marido y dice qué la produjo, con la reserva anterior de él dicha en la misma frase.

«‘That settles it,’ he said one day to me. ‘Now Fm convinced. I’ve read Geraldine’s fiction. She could not possibly have invented Mrs. Willett.’» — y la frase con que él la cerró, apoyada en haber leído la ficción de la automatista.

«The Cummins-Willett scripts began in 1957 and ended in 1959. Not until they were far along was Miss Cummins told whether the facts stated in them were correct or not.» — la nota de Toksvig que data la serie, con dos años que no cuadran con la fecha del último script numerado, marzo de 1960; las dos se consignan sin armonizar.

«On September 14, 1957, four days after her writing of script 3, and while she was still in Glanmire, Miss Cummins wrote as follows, again as an aside in a personal letter to the editor:» — Toksvig fecha y sitúa la segunda carta privada que reproduce, escrita cuatro días después del tercer script.

«The names variously used in the Notes: ‘Mrs. Wills, Mrs. Willett, Winifred’, refer to the supposed communicator of the scripts, Winifred Margaret Coombe Tennant, born Serocold. ‘A.T.’ refers to her older living son, Alexander Coombe Tennant. ‘H.T.’ refers to her younger living son, Henry Coombe Tennant.» — la orientación de nombres que Toksvig da antes de los scripts, donde se ve cómo el libro llama a la comunicadora supuesta y a sus dos hijos vivos.

«My husband, the writer Francis Hackett (author of Henry» — Toksvig introduce el testimonio de su marido escritor, con sus libros nombrados; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«‘Mrs. Willett is a massive Briton of the ruling class, and treats G. like an amanuensis. Her mind is disciplined, and the structure of her communications is dominated by her orderly, magisterial habit of mind, plus her dramatic and passionate intimacies, about which she is conscience-stricken as only a scrupulous, self-searching person could be. All this has welled over Geraldine like a tidal wave, and the corroborations have been astounding. No one could have known all that these scripts pour out, not even her sons. They give her sons a clue to themselves not hitherto suspected. Geraldine’s authority has only come to her through the exercise of this force she has learned to obey, and to guide in its proper channel.’» — la carta de Francis Hackett entera, releída en el crudo por pasar de setecientos caracteres: retrato de la comunicadora como británica de la clase dirigente que trata a la automatista de amanuense, con mente disciplinada y magistral, y el juicio de que nadie pudo saber todo lo que los scripts vuelcan, ni siquiera los hijos.

«I could not write sooner, being suddenly sunk in work. I had a challenge from the S.P.R. [The Society for Psychical Research, London], Mr. Salter [W. H. Salter the Hon. Secretary of the S.P.RJ wrote when I was in Bantry, asking me to do a test. He would send me the name of a sitter and I was to get a communication from sitter’s mother who died recently.» — la carta privada de la automatista del 31 de agosto de 1957, en su primer tramo: el encargo del investigador de la S.P.R., con los corchetes explicativos que la editora intercala; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«I am wondering whether you would be willing to consult Astor on his behalf. I certainly should not wish to press on you any work that you might find a strain, but the facts so far known to me are definitely curious and of a kind to rouse your keenness in the search for convincing evidence.» — de la primera carta del investigador de la S.P.R. a la automatista, que abre el caso: le pide consultar al control en nombre de otro y le anticipa que los hechos son curiosos.

«By the end of the year the evidential significance of the case will probably have declined through the publication of some facts at present known to very few persons, so that if you were so good as to try for a message you might feel disposed to do so fairly soon.» — y la razón de prisa que le da, que es un argumento de fecha construido de antemano: publicar ciertos hechos hoy sabidos por muy pocos rebajaría el valor evidencial del caso.

«I should propose to restrict the information given you to the name of ‘the absent sitter’, so as to make a success all the more striking.» — y el protocolo que él mismo se impone: darle solo el nombre del asistente ausente, para que un acierto pese más.

«He has sent me four papers in her handwriting. Would you prefer to have these sent you open for inspection, or would you for evidential reasons wish to have them forwarded in a sealed envelope?» — de la segunda carta: el hijo manda cuatro papeles con letra de la madre y el investigador ofrece a la automatista elegir entre verlos o recibirlos sellados.

«In scripts of this sort the communicator often speaks of being attracted to the medium through perceiving a psychic light emanating from the person. This paragraph, which Astor finds ‘a muddle’, has a real significance that emerges later on. ‘W.H.’ are the initials of Mr. Salter.» — la primera nota del aparato, sin firma en el troceo: explica la figura de la luz psíquica que atrae al médium y adelanta que el pasaje confuso cobrará sentido más adelante.

«H.T., the communicator’s younger, living son, comments on the statements by Astor: ‘My mother died at 81. My brother, Christopher, was killed in action, 3.9.17, at the age of nineteen.’» — la primera nota firmada por el hijo menor, que es quien coteja: da la edad de la madre al morir y la fecha y la edad del hermano muerto en acción.

«Her relationship with H.T. in her lifetime is said by him to have been correctly described by Astor. Her love was too possessive, yet there was a ‘special bond’ between them, this was the expression she generally used, in spite of their differences of opinion and tempera¬ ment. She often used to say how good he was to her. He was only a little boy when the grown-up son was killed.» — y el cotejo del resto: el hijo da por correctamente descrita la relación, con el amor demasiado posesivo y la expresión del lazo especial que él dice que ella usaba.

«The three first letters of her name are, as stated, ‘Win’, but she was never called that. The name is correctly given in full later on. The living son’s name is Henry, he has never been called Harry, except a long time ago by an aunt.» — el cotejo de los dos nombres, que da una parte por acertada y la otra por errada sin atenuarlo.

«My favourite brother Harry was killed in Gallipoli. I had been talk¬ ing of him with an old friend and thinking of him. He was always called Harry. Hence no doubt the difficulty in getting the name “Henry” through.’» — y la nota que la propia automatista añade sobre ese error, ofreciendo de su lado el nombre que se le pudo interponer.

«That little boy was her salvation, then and for the rest of her life, he loved and served her. She feels that she cannot write now of all she owes him. It is too intimate, too private a matter» — el segundo script cierra ese pasaje con la fórmula que las notas retoman después: lo que debe a ese hijo es demasiado íntimo y privado para escribirlo.

«This conventional picture is in fact the kind of impression my Mother sought to make on strangers.’ He adds, ‘It is by no means incorrect as far as it goes, but it is largely superficial—just how superficial is shown by a later passage in the script.’» — la nota del hijo menor sobre ese retrato: lo da por la impresión que su madre buscaba causar en los extraños, no incorrecta pero superficial.

«An early diary, 1902, shows her as decidedly in the London society of the period. Travelling, racing, fashionable dinners and doings were part of her life. She disliked the country in winter. From the same diary: ‘How can anyone wilfully pass one day in the country in England in winter! It is the abomination of desolation . . . To¬ morrow I go to London, thank Heaven!’» — la nota de la editora, que cita un diario temprano de la comunicadora para cotejar ese retrato de mundo, con la frase sobre el campo en invierno.

«Astor’s comment, ‘She would and often did live in two worlds,’ is agreed to by H.T. ‘My mother often said as much. I think she used this expression. But she never mentioned her psychic powers.’» — el hijo reconoce la fórmula de los dos mundos como propia de su madre y deja escrito el límite: nunca le habló de sus poderes psíquicos.

«In considering why it was that my mother had never mentioned her automatic writing to either of us, my brother and I came to the conclusion that that part of her life was, to use the words of the script, “too intimate, too private a matter” to be discussed even with her own children.» — y la conclusión a que los dos hermanos llegaron, con las palabras del propio script dentro: que esa parte de su vida era demasiado íntima y privada para hablarla siquiera con los hijos.

«My mother’s need for solitude was a marked feature of her personality. She shrank at times not only from strangers but also from» — la nota del hijo menor que da por acertado el rasgo de la soledad: su madre se apartaba a veces no solo de los extraños; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«old acquaintances. She never explained the reason, at least not to me.’» — y ahí acaba esa nota, con el límite que el hijo deja escrito: ella nunca explicó la razón, al menos no a él.

«My mother’s diaries,' continues H.T., ‘which neither my brother nor I had seen until after her death, show clearly that the death of Daphne was a shattering blow, under which my mother’s character virtually disintegrated and became reconstructed in quite a new form. From a gay young woman, fond of people and Ascot and parties, she» — el testimonio con que el hijo apoya eso: unos diarios que los dos hermanos no vieron hasta después de la muerte, que muestran la muerte de la hija como golpe tras el cual el carácter de la madre se desintegró y se rehízo de otro modo; el tramo se corta donde el troceo reemite la plana.

«became, at any rate in her private life almost a recluse. Now if Astor had really been allowed to look into my mother’s mind and memories, he could hardly have failed to notice this watershed in her life; but a later passage in the script suggests that my mother was not laying herself open to inspection, and if this is so, I think it very likely that she would not have admitted Astor to her memories of Daphne.» — y ahí sigue el argumento del hijo, que va contra la lectura fácil en los dos sentidos: si al control se le hubiera dejado mirar de veras, no habría podido no ver ese parteaguas, de modo que lo probable es que ella no se abriera a esa parte de su memoria.

«first developed after the death of my sister Daphne in 1908. I find it very interesting that neither in this passage nor anywhere else in the G.C. scripts, so far, is there any mention of Daphne» — el hijo menor fecha el comienzo de la escritura automática de su madre tras la muerte de su hermana y señala como muy interesante que los scripts no la mencionen en ninguna parte.

«I do not know if any reference to Daphne exists in the published material about Mrs. Willett. If G.C.’s knowledge about my mother is derived from the book Christopher, where the death of Daphne is naturally given less prominence than the death of Christopher, it is hardly surprising that Daphne is not mentioned in the scripts.» — y pone la primera de las dos explicaciones posibles, sin elegir: que si el saber de la automatista viene del libro de Lodge, donde esa muerte pesa menos, no sorprende que los scripts la callen.

«These comments were not given to the automatist until the series of scripts was nearly at an end.» — la nota de la editora que fija el protocolo del cotejo y que es lo que le da valor: los comentarios de los hijos no se le pasaron a la automatista hasta que la serie estaba casi terminada.

«Miss Cummins adds a note that in a much later script ‘Winifred’ wrote movingly of her grief at the death of her baby girl, here called ‘DafP. This abbreviation was never used, but automatists often get only part of a name.» — y la respuesta de la automatista a esa objeción sobre la hija muerta: que en un script muy posterior sí aparece, con un nombre abreviado que nadie usaba, y la observación de que los automatistas suelen recibir solo parte de un nombre.

«Miss Cummins states that she had never even heard of the book Christopher, which H.T. mentions as a possible source, but here of course one is in the presence of the argument that the subconscious of a medium can draw on any recorded source in the world, be it in books or in living minds.» — la editora consigna la negativa de la automatista sobre el libro señalado como fuente posible y, en la misma frase, no la da por cerrada: queda en pie el argumento de que el subconsciente de un médium puede tomar de cualquier fuente registrada del mundo.

«is later revealed to be Gerald, Lord Balfour. It is correct that he was partly Scottish, that his mother was English, that his ancestors were distinguished and of great ability, that he was on the verge of ninety, a scholar by nature, died during the war. Possibly he tried to get war work.» — la nota que coteja punto por punto el retrato del segundo script, y que marca como posible lo que no puede dar por correcto.

«The young man named ‘Francis’ is later on identified as Francis Balfour, who was killed young by a fall while mountain-climbing abroad. ‘Win’ recog¬ nizes him, as he was a communicator in the Cross-Correspondences (page 4), in which she took part. This was not known to Miss Cummins, as yet unaware of the identity of ‘Winifred’.» — el cotejo de la tercera figura del segundo script, con el dato que la nota subraya: que ese muerto había sido comunicador en las correspondencias cruzadas en que la comunicadora tomó parte, cosa que la automatista no sabía.

«The passage in which ‘Winifred’ lifts the ban on publication is regarded by H.T. as ‘so true to my mother’s style of expression that as I see it I seem to see the words in her handwriting’.» — el juicio del hijo sobre el pasaje en que se levanta la prohibición, que es de estilo y no de hecho: tan propio del modo de expresarse de su madre que dice ver las palabras en su letra.

«Less characteristic, especially the latter part. But my mother often used stock phrases in speaking about the after-life. “Dear Death” would be quite characteristic.’» — y el juicio contrario del mismo hijo sobre la despedida del mensaje, que da por menos característica salvo la fórmula sobre la muerte; los dos juicios quedan uno junto al otro.

«The communicator’s first name is mentioned correctly for the first time. Note the device of putting two other names together to make the one. As an automatist herself in this life Winifred had knowledge of the difficulty in transmitting names.» — la nota que registra el primer acierto del nombre completo y el recurso con que se obtuvo, y lo liga al oficio que la comunicadora tuvo en vida.

«‘Winifred’ now com¬ municates directly and not through the control, Astor. She mentions that she was an automatist herself, though an amateur, both facts unknown to G.C.» — la nota que marca el cambio de voz dentro de los scripts, de comunicación por el control a comunicación directa, y declara que los dos hechos eran desconocidos para la automatista.

«This is relevant here, as the communicator is worrying because the automatist has hesitated between Henry and Harry as the correct name of her living son. Miss Cummins’s brother, always called Harry, was killed in the First World War. That memory having been aroused in her, ‘offsets’ one might say on the communicator’s mind, and the wrong form of the name is given. A ‘mutual’, if involuntary, selection, has taken place.» — y la nota aplica el término al error del nombre: la memoria removida en la automatista compensa en la mente de la comunicadora y da la forma equivocada, que es una selección mutua involuntaria.

«One of the names of Winifred’s dead son was ‘George’, but it was never used. He was known as ‘Christopher’. Quite frequently in mediumistic sittings a person’s less used name is selected, for whatever reason.» — la nota que explica por qué el script usa un nombre que nadie usaba, con una regularidad que declara sin explicarla.

«H.T. writes that his mother did not repress her grief, she in fact frequently commented on the loss of her son.» — el hijo contradice en este punto al script, que hablaba de una pena enterrada: dice que su madre no reprimió el duelo y que hablaba a menudo de esa pérdida.

«The mention of my mother’s work as a magistrate and the way it is introduced are both characteristic. She was extremely proud of this work, and remained so till the end of her life ... I was often present when my mother met strangers for the first time, and I noticed she almost always took an early opportunity to refer to her work on the Bench. She often introduced the subject rather abruptly, but quite logically, as in the script.’» — la nota del hijo sobre el pasaje del estrado, releída entera en el crudo: no coteja solo el hecho sino el modo, que la madre sacara el asunto pronto y de manera algo abrupta ante un desconocido, y esa nota cierra declarando el dato desconocido para la automatista.

«In 1955 G.C. had read extracts from this great work in two books—Tyrrell’s The Personality of Man, and Saltmarsh on the Cross-Correspondences—which is all she ever read of the Balfour Study. In neither of these extracts does the topic of Mutual Selection come in.» — la nota que acota lo que la automatista había leído del estudio de Balfour, dos extractos en dos libros, y declara que el término de la selección mutua no aparece en ninguno de los dos.

«Very interesting in the light of the scripts dealing with the work of the ‘group’ that were to follow. But G.C. had only been given to suppose that a son wanted a message from his mother, in whose continued existence, however, he did not really believe.» — la nota de la editora que acota lo que la automatista sabía al empezar: solo que un hijo quería un mensaje de su madre, en cuya existencia continuada él no creía de veras.

«E.B.G. is Miss E. B. Gibbes, also known as ‘Bea’, whose devoted and scholarly work in connection with Miss Cummins’s auto¬ matic writings is well known. She died suddenly on December 18, 1951.» — la nota que identifica la sigla de la colaboradora muerta de la automatista, que aparece dentro de los scripts como una de las voces.

«H.T. comments that his mother was ignorant of sport. The point, also mentioned by him, is, however, that the name W. G. Grace is used to transmit a difficult Welsh name.» — el hijo objeta el detalle del cricket y a la vez señala para qué sirve en el script, transmitir un nombre galés difícil.

«In an early diary Mrs. Willett mentions going to cricket matches as part of country life. And G.C. was fond of sport, had played cricket with her brothers.» — y la editora pone al lado los dos datos que complican esa objeción, uno de cada lado, sin resolverlos.

«H.T. comments that this might be true in a figurative sense, though she met her husband first in Austria, but in Morganwg she would have ‘found’ him better than in fashionable London.» — el hijo coteja lo del hallazgo del marido y lo da por verdadero en sentido figurado, señalando el hecho que lo contradice en sentido literal.

«My mother was born in Gloucestershire in a house which my grandfather sold soon afterwards. We are not certain where she spent the first seven years of her life, but we do not think it was in Wales.’» — y el hijo contradice el dato de los siete primeros años, con la reserva de que la familia no está segura de dónde los pasó.

«The Lodge referred to in the paper was the Provost’s Lodge at Eton. It had not occurred to me how appropriate the word would be to call up memories of my mother’s early married life. (Cadoxton Lodge and Oliver Lodge.)’» — el hijo explica la palabra del papel que se le puso en la mano a la automatista y lo que le habría evocado a su madre, con el doble sentido del apellido del investigador entre paréntesis.

«Near the end of this script Winifred tries to correct the mis¬ statement that her husband’s family lived at Cadoxton, after-first in a very ingenious way having conveyed the main part of the odd name— Cadre-Ox. She explains that she and her husband lived there, from her present point of view a ‘past generation’.» — la nota que desenreda ese pasaje: el script enmienda un dato equivocado sobre quién vivía en la casa después de haber transmitido el nombre por partes.

«I suppose that mother might have found the faded society beauties like Dolly and Evie pretty formidable, but I always understood that she had a great deal of self-confidence.’» — el hijo concede a medias el retrato de la timidez ante la familia política y lo objeta con lo que él entendía de su madre.

«She mentions, correctly, the names of her two sisters-in-law and that of her brother-in-law, ‘Fred’, who is F. W. H. Myers.» — la nota que da por correctos los tres nombres del script y levanta el que enlaza el caso con la investigación psíquica.

«Presumably Swansea which was about ten miles from Cadoxton. “Black” is not understood. There seems no particular reason why Swansea should be mentioned here. It would be associated with my grandmother, who came from Derwen Fawr Manor near Swansea, and with my mother’s work as a prison visitor which meant much to her.’» — el hijo coteja la frase del título: da por probable el topónimo y declara no entender la palabra negra ni por qué vendría a cuento.

«H.T. states that although his brother A.T. does not feel that these scripts convey his mother’s style, ‘nor is their content at all what I would have said was typical,’ he himself does not entirely agree, adding: ‘There are uncharacteristic features, but a lot of it seems to me fairly typical, though nowhere vividly so.’» — las observaciones generales sobre el cuarto script, con el desacuerdo entre los dos hermanos consignado sin armonizar: al mayor no le parece el estilo de su madre ni el contenido típico, y el menor no coincide del todo.

«A.T. tells that when, after his mother’s death, someone mentioned ‘Mrs. Willett’ to him he asked ‘who is Mrs. Willett?’ H.T. was informed of Mrs. Willett’s identity in 1944, though his mother never knew this.» — la editora mide la hondura del secreto con dos datos de los hijos: el mayor no sabía quién era ese seudónimo y el menor lo supo en 1944 sin que su madre lo supiera.

«After the series was finished, A.T. said of one particular long script, ‘That is one hundred per cent my mother!’» — y la editora consigna el juicio contrario del mismo hijo mayor sobre un script largo posterior, al lado de su reserva sobre estos primeros.

«The names of Morganwg, Derwen Fawr, Cadoxton Lodge, as well as the family names and relationships are unknown to me. As for my acquaintance with Wales, some years ago I stayed one night at Swansea with a lady I had not met previously; we discussed psychical research and my books as far as my recollection goes. Her name I’ve found in an old address book, it was Lady Edwards, Hendrefoilav, Sketty, Swansea. Many years ago I stayed two nights with an uncle in Monmouthshire.’» — la automatista declara su ignorancia de esos nombres y detalla, con nombre y dirección, el único contacto que recuerda con el lugar.

«There is here an attempt to convey her pseudonym, ‘‘Mrs. Willett”, used in all her psychic research experiments. Revela¬ tion of her identity was first made in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research for December, 1957, of which I was not told till January, 1958, but this script made me suspect it.’» — la nota de la automatista sobre el apellido a medias del quinto script, con las fechas que separan su sospecha de la revelación pública.

«I have come upon lists of the many memorials to Christopher, in mother’s handwriting and typed. I think she has placed memorials to him in all the places where in his life he passed any material time.’» — el hijo mayor coteja el papel conmemorativo con lo que halló entre los papeles de su madre, listas de monumentos al hermano muerto.

«The use of the name ‘George’, her sons feel, tends to show that Lodge’s book Christopher was not drawn on.» — la nota que convierte un rasgo raro en argumento: para los hijos, que el script use el nombre que nadie usaba tiende a mostrar que el libro de Lodge no fue la fuente.

«My mother would certainly not have used the name "George”. Nevertheless it is factually correct. I can suggest no explanation, assuming G.C.’s honesty, except a possible confusion with George Pearce Serocold, my mother’s father.'» — y el hijo menor deja las dos mitades sin armonizar: su madre no habría usado ese nombre y aun así es correcto de hecho, y él no sabe explicarlo salvo por confusión con el nombre del abuelo.

«In December, 1959, at my first meeting with H.T., he spoke of a book called Christopher, by Sir Oliver Lodge. I had never heard of it.’» — la automatista fecha el momento en que oyó hablar por primera vez del libro señalado como fuente posible, dos años después del quinto script.

«Mother always had great love for Cambridge, and took a keen interest in Cherry Hinton church, to which she sub¬ scribed for the general upkeep and repairs done in recent years. She had, of course, stayed at Leckhampton House, Cambridge, with F. W. H. Myers and her sister-in-law (her husband’s sister, Eveleen), and there for the first time she met the academic world, for which she had such a life-long respect.’» — el hijo mayor coteja el pasaje de Cambridge y añade lo que el script no dice, que fue ahí donde su madre conoció el mundo académico por el que tuvo respeto de por vida.

«In her diary for 1899, Winifred mentions that ‘We spent a week at Cambridge in April . . . went over to Cherryhinton, where I did due honour to the graves of my forefathers.’» — y la editora coteja lo mismo con una entrada del diario de la comunicadora, con las palabras de ella.

«Given this clue, plus the names ‘Gerald’ and ‘Betty’ (see page 3), the automatist surmised that Mrs. Wills was Mrs. Willett, the pseudonym of a lady who took part in the Cross-Correspondences, an experiment in which several automatists, independently of each other, received from alleged communicators details of literary puzzles, which only made sense when put together by the experimenter in charge.» — la editora reconstruye cómo dedujo la automatista de quién se trataba y de paso define el experimento de las correspondencias cruzadas: varios automatistas que reciben por separado piezas de un rompecabezas literario que solo cobra sentido reunido.

«On page 149 of the Balfour Study, the entranced Mrs. Willett is cited as speaking of a ‘chain of me’s’, and in Gerald Balfour’s comments (pp. 150—1) he speaks of ‘psychic units’ and considers their co-operating to form a primary or ‘true self’.» — la nota que rastrea la doctrina del yo del quinto script hasta el estudio anterior, con la cadena de yoes en boca de la comunicadora en trance y las unidades psíquicas en el comentario del investigador.

«In the Cummins-Willett script these ideas are expressed in a few sentences, as an intelligent but non-academic lady might have mentioned them, and as it allegedly is Gerald Balfour, who (later) admits he is conducting this experiment from ‘the other side’, it is probable that his pre¬ occupations would come through, especially as these remarks are relevant to what follows about Mrs. Willett’s ‘psychic unit’ in childhood.» — y la lectura que la nota hace de esa coincidencia, con la cautela de un es probable: que quien conduce el experimento desde el otro lado traiga consigo sus preocupaciones, y que la señora no académica las diga en pocas frases.

«‘Walking in celestial places’, a phrase used in the Balfour Study by Mrs. Willett to describe her personal experience when entranced.» — la nota que devuelve otra frase del quinto script al estudio anterior, donde la comunicadora la usaba para describir lo que le pasaba en trance.

«My mother had a particular interest in W. B. Yeats, and studied and pondered his poetry very much. This particular quotation was one of her favourites.» — el hijo coteja el verso citado en el script y lo da por uno de los favoritos de su madre.

«We know of nothing to confirm this.’ In the Balfour Study (p. 49), he states that ‘in early girlhood Mrs. Willett discovered that she possessed the power of automatic writing» — la negativa del hijo sobre la escritura automática de la adolescencia, corregida en la misma nota por el estudio anterior, que sí lo dice; las dos cosas quedan juntas.

«This story strikes my brother as likely to be true, and I have a feeling that I have read or been told about it.'» — el hijo mide su propio cotejo del episodio del desmayo con una fórmula que no afirma más de lo que sabe.

«On page 75 of the Balfour Study, Mrs. Willett notes that she passed almost into unconsciousness when she tried for script in her husband’s presence.» — y la editora respalda ese mismo episodio con el estudio anterior, que trae la pérdida de consciencia ante el marido.

«Here Mrs. Willett seems to be carrying over the habit from the Cross-Correspondence cases of using symbolic names to disguise identity. Two years later G.C. guesses correctly that Portia is Mrs. Verrall, the mother of Mrs. Salter. This lady’s ‘judicial’ power has been mentioned by Mrs. Willett elsewhere in these scripts, and is possibly the reason for the name.» — la editora explica el nombre supuesto del script como hábito traído de las correspondencias cruzadas y consigna, con la cautela de un es posible, por qué se eligió ese.

«In the Balfour Study Mrs. Willett complained of the long obscure words often used by the communicators. A. T. comments that he remembers his mother as ‘complaining to me of the long obscure words which Balfour was wont to use’. So she was badgered both by communicator and sitter.» — la nota junta las dos quejas por las palabras largas, la del estudio anterior contra los comunicadores y la que el hijo recuerda contra el asistente, y saca de ahí que la acosaban por los dos lados.

«At this point in the scripts G.C. strongly suspected that Mrs. Willett was communicating facts about Gerald Balfour and'his wife Betty, because in June 1939 G.C. had given a sitting to Lord Balfour and his wife. (See chapter entitled ‘The Beginning of the Cummins-Willett scripts’, page 3, and also pages 83-4 in G. Cummins’ Unseen Adventures, where this is described in detail.)» — la editora fija el momento en que la automatista sospechó de quién venían los datos, y da la razón, la sesión que había dado a esa pareja en 1939.

«My mother often used this word in conversations I had with her (veridical), about the evidence of the survival of personality. She used it, so to speak, in inverted commas, and my impression is that she regarded it as a technical S.P.R. word (Society for Psychical Research). I remember an argument over how the word should be spelled, I maintaining it should be “v/ridical”.’» — el hijo coteja el término técnico del final del quinto script y da el detalle que lo vuelve personal, la discusión con su madre sobre cómo se escribía; el troceo deforma la grafía discutida.

«Reading and studying this last script has caused me to change my views very considerably. I feel that this script really has carried us a great way. I tried the scripts on J. (his wife) with little comment, and she is entirely of my way of thinking. I agree with her in feeling that it is a great pity to wish to bring these communications to an end, just at the time they are becoming really interesting. I doubt whether G.C. will want to shut off material which may come her way, for she refers to Winifred as a strong influence. G.C., tuned in now, is really getting something —and I am now very much impressed by her ‘concert pitch sensi¬ tivity’, which has made this possible.” ’» — la nota del hermano mayor que el menor transcribe, releída entera en el crudo: declara haber cambiado mucho de opinión con este script, se opone a cortar el experimento y atribuye lo que sale a una sensibilidad afinada de la automatista.

«In general I agree, though I think there are a number of uncharacteristic things in the script. The description of the incident when my father is supposed to have been present at a sitting strikes several false notes, though I have no reason to doubt that it happened. The reference to Winifred as being nervous and not trusting herself (which also occurs in some of the other scripts) seems to me inappropriate. My mother was physically timid, but she was completely self-confident in all matters primarily requiring mental effort and the taking of decisions. I do not recognize my mother in “the lady with the darting mind”.» — y el hijo menor pone enfrente sus reparos sin armonizarlos con el entusiasmo del mayor: notas falsas en el episodio del padre, la comunicadora descrita como nerviosa y desconfiada de sí, y una fórmula en que no reconoce a su madre.

«The communicator could have been self-confident in all matters primarily requiring mental effort, but not at all confident in the role of the automatist Mrs. Willett, as in that role a suspension of mental effort was required. That is my own psychological attitude. I am usually nervous before a guaranteed sitting. But I am self-confident in matters requiring conscious mental effort and the taking of decisions.’» — la automatista responde a ese reparo desde su propio oficio: el papel de automatista pide suspender el esfuerzo mental, y ella misma, segura para lo consciente, se pone nerviosa antes de una sesión garantizada.

«Note: Script is endorsed as follows: ‘This script was written at Woodville, Glanmire, Co. Cork, on 26.9.57. Iris A. Cummins.’)» — el endoso manuscrito que certifica dónde y cuándo se escribió el sexto script, firmado por una tercera persona; es el único de esta clase que el volumen reproduce.

«‘Mrs. L.’ is Mrs. Gladys Leonard, one of the best known and most highly esteemed professional mediums. After the death of her son in the First World War, Mrs. Willett had a number of sittings with Mrs. Leonard. (The editor has seen the reports.) The note-taker was Sir Oliver Lodge.» — la nota levanta la inicial del sexto script e identifica a la médium profesional con quien la comunicadora tuvo sesiones tras la muerte de su hijo, con la editora declarando haber visto los informes.

«Script 6 is indeed personal. It is also correct. It does not seem right to mention the full names of the persons, but their first names are the real ones and the situation described as well as the tragedy resulting from it are factual, and unknown to the automatist.» — el juicio de la editora sobre ese script, con la reserva de no dar los nombres completos: los nombres de pila son los reales y la situación y la tragedia son de hecho, y la automatista no los sabía.

«Here is one of the main themes of these scripts: the wish to make amends for what the communicator considers an inadequacy on her part in her relationship with her children, joined with her fervent desire to convince these children of her continued existence.» — la editora enuncia uno de los temas que a su juicio recorren la serie: reparar lo que la comunicadora tiene por una insuficiencia suya con sus hijos, junto con el afán de convencerlos de que sigue existiendo.

«This is the first script after Miss Cummins, on January 19, 1958, had had her attention directed by Mr. W. H. Salter to a notice in the Journal for the Society of Psychical Research, December, 1957, which confirmed her belief that the automatist of the cross correspon¬ dence cases, Mrs. Willett, and ‘Winifred’ and ‘Mrs. Wills’ were one and the same person.» — la editora fecha aquí el corte del caso: este es el primer script posterior al momento en que la automatista supo con certeza que los tres nombres eran una misma persona.

«On page 85 of the Balfour Study there is an account by Gerald Balfour of a visit from Mrs. Willett, which turned into a spontaneous sitting. It is dated October 16, 1929. She describes seeing ‘a phantasm’, ‘a lady in an old-fashioned dress, young and with thick, beautiful hair. She was standing beside the couch, a brilliant light streaming round and from her whole figure . . .’ Mrs. Willett adds that she barely escaped going into trance. It is also mentioned that ‘another person was in the room, lying on a couch, also listening to the music and paying no attention to us’.» — la nota que coteja La Memoria con el estudio anterior, releída entera en el crudo: el mismo episodio fechado, la aparición de la dama con vestido antiguo y el cabello espeso, la luz que la rodeaba, el roce del trance y la tercera persona tendida en el diván.

«The above is all the information given. Even this was not known to Miss Cummins. Not till the publication in February, 1960, of ‘The Palm Sunday Case’ (Proceedings of the S.P.R., vol. 52, part 189) were the same facts revealed as those stated in ‘The Memory’ of the present Cummins-Willett script, namely that ‘the phantasm’ was that of a young woman with whom A. J. Balfour had been in love and who had died young. He never married.» — y la nota mide lo que ese cotejo deja fuera, que es su argumento de fecha: lo demás no se publicó hasta 1960, y la automatista ni siquiera sabía lo publicado antes.

«In the Cummins script it was correctly stated that the two men present were brothers. They were Gerald Balfour and A. J. Balfour.» — la nota levanta los nombres de los dos hombres del episodio y da por correcto el dato de que eran hermanos, que es con lo que el script cierra.

«About a year later I met H.T., and he told me that about the time script 7 was written Mr. and Mrs. Salter were reading an account of “The Memory’’.’» — y la automatista añade una coincidencia de fechas que el libro no explota, que el matrimonio investigador estaba leyendo un relato de ese episodio por esos días.

«In mediumistic messages from the newly dead they often refer to themselves as children in their development.» — la nota del aparato que sitúa la fórmula del script en un uso corriente de los mensajes de recién muertos.

«On page 182 of Miss Cummins’s The Road to Immortality, which consists of scripts transmitted to her by F. W. H. Myers, a medium is described by Myers as ‘an interpreter. It is an interpretation not a literal statement that is conveyed through him ... You should study the medium, and if you perceive any very strong prejudice expressed, you will know it comes from the subconscious overflow and not from the poor shade who has the greatest difficulty in contend¬ ing with any fixed ideas in the medium’s deeper mind.’» — la nota rastrea la doctrina del intérprete hasta un libro anterior de la propia automatista, releída entera en el crudo, donde la misma idea se atribuye a otro comunicador; el aparato la trae como coincidencia y no la resuelve.

«Note how Mrs. Willett elaborates a similar idea in her own style, illustrating it from her own experiences with interpreters at the League of Nations.» — y la nota pide mirar en qué se distingue esa elaboración, el estilo propio y el ejemplo tomado de la vida pública de la comunicadora.

«G.C. has received her first letter from Winifred’s son, Henry. He writes that he and his mother always disagreed on the question of survival. He believes in extinction at death.» — la acotación con que el aparato encabeza el noveno script y que fija a quién se dirige: el hijo que cree en la extinción con la muerte y que siempre discrepó de su madre en eso.

«A sample ol Astor writing (top); of Winifred’s agitated script (centre); and of her more quiet writing» — el pie de la primera lámina de facsímiles, que distingue tres letras dentro de los propios scripts, la del control y las dos de la comunicadora; la plana es solo imagen y el troceo la devuelve como ruido salvo el pie.

«which does not resemble the normal writing of their mother, in the opinion of the sons» — la segunda mitad de ese pie, en la plana siguiente, que es donde el volumen consigna el juicio de los hijos: esa letra no se parece a la normal de su madre.

«A sample of Geraldine Cummins’s normal writing.» — y el pie de la tercera muestra, la letra normal de la automatista, que es el término de comparación de la lámina.

«Apart from one or two discordant notes, this script strikes both my brother and me as true. I think it is not uncharacter¬ istic of my mother to present the material in this and the next two scripts in dramatic form, as a defence in a court of law, and the bantering tone of some of the contents is also characteristic of her reaction when she thought I was being ponderous and severe.’» — la nota general del hijo sobre el noveno script: los dos hermanos lo dan por verdadero salvo un par de notas discordantes, y él encuentra característico el modo dramático y el tono burlón.

«Mother often spoke to me of Derwen Fawr, which I think was her grandfather’s house. She told me of the pans of milk with rising cream in the dairy attached to the house, and of the old coachman who had been so kind to her. I know that she was very happy there.’» — el hijo mayor coteja la casa que el script nombra y añade lo que el script no trae, las cacerolas de leche y el viejo cochero.

«It is a fact, unknown to G.C., that Mrs. Willett had sisters, half-sisters, as her father had been married before.» — la nota que da por correcto el dato de las hermanas y precisa lo que el script no precisa, que eran medias hermanas.

«Correct. In 1928 her husband died. Her change of personality in 1938 cannot be confirmed, but the script claims that she concealed it as far as possible.» — la nota que coteja ese patrón: da por correcto uno de los años y declara que el otro no se puede confirmar, con la salvedad que el propio script había puesto.

«A.T. believes the great change following the death of Christopher in September, 1917, might not have been felt by his» — y el hijo mayor matiza otro de esos años, situando el cambio grande después de la muerte del hermano; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«A.T. told G.C. that when he and Henry were schoolboys and small children their father was decidedly more with them than their busy mother, often engaged in public work.» — el hijo mayor coteja la pregunta que la voz se hace sobre si descuidó a los suyos, y responde de hecho: el padre estaba más con ellos que la madre.

«A.T. says that his mother bought French pictures and sent them on loan exhibits through Wales. She bought pictures on behalf of Swansea Art Gallery and other Welsh galleries. In the half-time breaks in concerts, she often spoke in chapels on the life of Bach and well-known musicians.» — y el hijo detalla las artes de la paz que el script menciona, con las exposiciones itinerantes y las charlas en las capillas.

«Astor’s analysis is, as far as it goes, entirely accurate.’» — el hijo coteja el retrato de carácter del control y lo da por exacto hasta donde llega.

«“Alma Mater” was a favourite expression, but I have never heard my mother refer to “the Varsity”.’» — y el hijo separa en la misma nota lo que reconoce de lo que no, sin armonizarlo.

«The paragraph beginning, “My Lord you may sentence the mother to annihilation” strikes me as highly characteristic.’» — y el juicio del hijo sobre el pasaje que le está dirigido, que es de estilo y no de hecho.

«The son’s letter is produced, in which his mother is asked for advice on the choice of careers, oddly enough as it is from the son who does not believe in survival. The mother discusses, correctly, certain changes in the family surnames, and shows a correct knowledge» — la editora resume en corchetes el contenido que no reproduce y consigna de paso la rareza del caso, que quien pide consejo a su madre muerta es el hijo que no cree en la supervivencia.

«In this script there are various indications of anti-Labour Party bias. H.T. comments: ‘These are not characteristic of my mother’s political views, as she used to express them in later life. In fact Bevan (“dear Nye”) was one of her heroes.’» — el aparato consigna en contra del script un sesgo político que el hijo no reconoce en su madre, y da el nombre del político que ella admiraba.

«As the automatist’s political views verge on the Conservative, this may be a case of the communicator being unable to swim against the currents in the medium’s mind, a fact of which Winifred sometimes complains.» — y la editora explica ese desajuste por la doctrina del propio libro, el comunicador que no puede nadar contra las corrientes de la mente de la médium.

«She stayed at Chequers as a guest of Lloyd George in 1922, and she has written a brilliant account of it, apparently only for her own satisfaction. At that time she seems to have seen a rising dictator in Winston Churchill, of whom she says: ‘A bully and militarist. He is a heavy, ill-built, old young man, pasty-faced, bull¬ dog jowled, bald-headed; he looks puffy and unhealthy, muscularly poor ... he spoke for an hour—his speech was clever, satirical, not moving.'» — y la editora apoya lo contrario con un escrito privado de la comunicadora, releído entero en el crudo: el retrato durísimo que hizo de Churchill en 1922, viendo en él un dictador en ciernes.

«By far the most impressive part of this script is that relating to the quarrel with “Mrs. R.” In April, 1942, my mother went to live as a paying guest with a Mrs. R. in Y. . . . and my mother lived there for nearly four years.» — el hijo señala qué parte del script le pesa como evidencia y coteja la fecha y la duración de aquella convivencia.

«My mother was by temperament incapable of making a success of prolonged intimate companionship with a woman. Such associations always came to grief sooner or later, and life with Mrs. R. was no exception, being marked, however, by an unusual degree of bitterness.» — y coteja el fondo del asunto con lo que él sabía de su madre, incapaz de sostener una convivencia íntima con otra mujer.

«I cannot say whether the incidents described in the script actually occurred, and Mrs. R. died recently, so she cannot be con¬» — el hijo marca a la vez el límite de su cotejo: no puede decir si los episodios ocurrieron y la otra parte ha muerto; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«Also we came on a letter from Mrs. R. among my mother’s papers after her death, which was an attempt to make up the quarrel. The writer pointed out that they were neither of them getting any younger and suggested they should make their peace while there was still time. My mother had endorsed the envelope of this letter with the following or similar words: “Ridiculous letter from Mrs. R. pleading for forgiveness.”» — y el segundo documento, la carta de reconciliación hallada entre los papeles con el endoso desdeñoso de la madre, que coteja justamente el pasaje del script sobre el perdón.

«The term “Mrs. R.” covers reference to the lady in question, both by her correct Christian name and by the correct initial letter of her surname. The place-name is also correct.’» — y la nota declara que las iniciales del script corresponden al nombre y al apellido reales y que el topónimo también es correcto, que es donde el cotejo se vuelve evidencia.

«This topic had been amply dealt with in the Balfour Study, when she herself was the medium. Some of her present comments, through G.C., find their counterparts in this study, which, as mentioned, G.C. had not read, except in the fragments cited by Tyrrell, and by Saltmarsh.» — la nota que sitúa el asunto del Proceso de Comunicación en el estudio anterior, donde la propia comunicadora era la médium, y vuelve a acotar lo que la automatista había leído de él.

«It is not a case of literal quotation. The Cummins-Willett script brings forward some of the same ideas, but in a style that is often more colloquial, as well as adapted to the situation, i.e., the incredulity of her son ^s to her continued existence.» — y el juicio de la nota sobre esa coincidencia, que no la da por copia: las mismas ideas en estilo más coloquial y adaptadas a la incredulidad del hijo.

«cf. Balfour Study, p. 182: ‘. . . belief in the personality of the communicators “is an absolutely vital part of the conditions which make it easy for us to work”.’ idem, p. 183: ‘ “There is a paralysing sense of isolation in the experience of coming back . . . one needs something reciprocal.” ’» — la nota pone enfrente los dos pasajes del estudio anterior que corresponden a la doctrina del script, la creencia en la personalidad de los comunicadores y el aislamiento paralizante que pide algo recíproco.

«Not till the publication of ‘The Palm Sunday Case’, about two years later than this script, did any but three or four people know the true story here reported, the love story of A. J. Balfour and Mary Lyttelton. On page 115, King Arthur of The Idylls of the King is a symbol for Arthur Balfour. On page 93, at A. J. Balfour’s wish, it is described how ‘the ring was placed upon her finger and buried with her’.» — la nota que convierte el cuadro del anillo en argumento de fecha, releída entera en el crudo: la historia no se conoció hasta dos años después de este script, y la publicación trae el anillo puesto en el dedo y enterrado con ella.

«That G.C. did doubt the story is proved by a letter to the editor in which she told her that she had just written a script with a romantic tale that probably was unconscious fiction. But the ring was buried in the grave, and A.J.B. did return once a year.» — la editora documenta la incredulidad de la automatista con una carta propia donde la llamaba probable ficción inconsciente, y pone al lado los dos hechos que después se comprobaron.

«On March 30 she went to tea with Mrs. S., and they talked of her friend the Irish poet AE, also about Yeats. Miss Cummins said that in her opinion Yeats’s head always ruled his heart for all his lyrical poetry about Maud Gonne. Mrs. S. capped this with a story to show the heart may rule the head, even in the case of an intellectual. She said Arthur Balfour had been in love with a girl who died while he was abroad. He rushed home to offer her an engagement ring, but it was too late. Mrs. S. did not mention her name.» — la editora reconstruye la conversación de la que después se sospechó como fuente, y consigna que ahí no se dio el nombre.

«On my way home her story struck me as being similar to the one in script on March 22. But I couldn’t find it till April 4. I then told Mrs. Gay (member of the S.P.R. Council) about it and wondered should I destroy the script because of the similarity. She told me not to. I visited her and brought her the script to read, also showed her my engagement book which contained date of “Winifred” sitting and my visit to Mrs. S.’» — y la automatista cuenta qué hizo con esa coincidencia: se planteó destruir el script y en cambio lo llevó a un miembro del consejo de la S.P.R. con su agenda de fechas.

«Nobody would doubt your word that it was written before your Palm Sunday meeting with Mrs. S., and, therefore, it was not in any way influenced by anything she then told you ... I feel sure that Major T. would be interested in seeing this script, as I should be myself. Your scripts are among the most interesting developments in psychical research for many years.’» — la carta del investigador que le pide con fuerza no destruirlo, con el argumento de fecha dicho por él y el juicio con que la anima.

«The relevance, if any, of script 15 has not been discovered, but it is in ‘Mrs. Willett’s’ style.» — la nota del aparato sobre ese script, que declara no haberle hallado pertinencia y lo sostiene solo por el estilo.

«Her (Winifred’s) references to the house are of interest. She speaks of it as Elizabethan, which may be right, as the house is certainly a good deal older than the date on the porch, which is 1692. That was when considerable alterations were made and the present ornamented front was added. The Crown and roses that figure in the decorations are traditionally supposed to commemorate a visit from Elizabeth. We have a good number of books but not, I fancy, as many as Winifred had in her own home.’» — la carta del investigador que coteja la visión de su casa, releída entera en el crudo: concede lo isabelino con un puede ser, da la fecha del pórtico y las alteraciones, y acota lo de los libros en vez de darlo por bueno.

«For all I knew the house might have been a modern villa.’» — y la automatista mide su propio desconocimiento de esa casa en una línea.

«The Balfour Study, pp. 299-300, contains the same idea in subtle detail, and with many technicalities, supposedly transmitted by Edmund Gurney to G. W. Balfour. The latter says, page 300, ‘If the scripts in question are the product not of inspiration from an external intelligence, but of subliminal mentation, I am driven to the conclusion that the subliminal in this instance has exhibited a subtlety of specula¬ tive thought very decidedly beyond anything I believe the Mrs. Willett with whom I am intimately acquainted to be capable of. Mrs. Willet herself, to whom the trance productions have now been shown for the first time, assures me that they are “so much Greek” to her, and leave her utterly bewildered and bored.’» — la nota trae del estudio anterior el pasaje paralelo, releído entero en el crudo, donde el investigador plantea la alternativa sin resolverla, inspiración externa o mentación subliminal, y anota que si es lo segundo excede lo que él cree capaz a la mujer que trataba.

«Did Mrs. Willett try to conceal from me who the Lytteltons were by the name of “Lob”? But in my youth I had heard of the Lyttelton brothers, their cricket exploits and political success, so I soon guessed who the Lytteltons were. The “Edith” mentioned on page 65 is obviously Dame Edith Lyttelton. George went to Win¬ chester College, not Eton. Mrs. Willett corrects this mistake in script 26, page 100. A.T. and H.T. went to Eton. A “Lob” was headmaster of Eton.» — la automatista se pregunta si el nombre supuesto pretendía ocultarle la familia, declara que lo resolvió en seguida por sus recuerdos de juventud y consigna el error de colegio junto con el script que lo enmienda.

«Mrs. Willis told me that Mrs. Bob first roused her interest in psychic research. Also that Mrs. Bob had a quick mind, flitting to a number of things, but especially music. Mrs. Willis likewise told me that the psychic experiments made by the Lytteltons were kept secret, as the men were in politics.» — la automatista coteja dos datos del script dieciocho con lo que le contó una señora a la que conoció después, el carácter de una de las cuñadas y el secreto de los experimentos por las carreras políticas.

«Here she attributes her psychic gifts to her Welsh mother, Mary Richardson, saying it came from her side not from her father’s, George Serocold’s, side. From her diaries it is clear that she confided her psychic experiences to her mother, but she is wrong about her father, or at least the ‘script-personality’ remembers» — la editora coteja esa atribución del don y la da por acertada por el lado materno y por equivocada por el paterno, con la fórmula que deja abierto quién recuerda mal; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana.

«Her Father wrote a memoir of his life, in which on page 82 he mentions that as a child he had a vision of an aunt the night she died, and as a young man on board a ship at Hong Kong, he had in broad daylight a vision of his father coming into the cabin on the very day his father died in England. On page 103 of the (MS. memoir) he describes how on a punitive expedition in Australia he saw bushmen being shot and saw them fall, then saw them rise and run on, but with their bodies still remaining dead on the ground. He says he thinks it was their ‘psychical bodies’ that ran on.» — y la editora documenta esa enmienda con la memoria manuscrita del padre, releída entera en el crudo: dos visiones de muerte a distancia y el episodio de los cuerpos que se levantan y corren dejando los suyos en el suelo.

«So it is evident, as seems often the case, that Winifred had inherited her remarkable psychic gift.» — y la conclusión con que la editora cierra esa nota, que enmienda al propio script en el punto de la herencia.

«Arthur is a typical Grand Seigneur who has been sheltered from friction and offence—his circumstances have brought him great prizes at the cost of far less effort of most men—the thoughts of “The common herd” are not only hid from him, but—all unguessed as they are—brushed aside as trivially unimportant. Arthur has no capacity for moral indignation and none of that imaginative sympathy which makes the tragedy of human life as it is and must be in a world like this, a pain personal and real to oneself... he just misses being a great man by reason of his lack of humanity and imagination. In fact I believe it is a lack in the capacity for imagination that is at the bottom of his emptiness.’» — el retrato que la comunicadora escribió en vida de ese estadista, releído entero en el crudo desde un manuscrito suyo de 1923: le niega indignación moral y simpatía imaginativa y dice que por falta de humanidad e imaginación no llega a hombre grande; el aparato lo trae para cotejar el retrato del script.

«Lloyd George is described by Winifred in notes made by her during a stay in his house at Churt, December, 1922, as ‘Certainly the most vivid, vital, dynamic creature I ever met.’ It was of course he who had made her a delegate to the League of Nations. He told her, in October, 1922, ‘Balfour says you did extraordinarily well.’ She admired him greatly but in these very remarkable series of notes on her various visits at his house she also saw him with critical eyes.» — y el aparato coteja el otro retrato con notas de la comunicadora escritas en vida, que la muestran admirándolo y a la vez mirándolo con ojo crítico.

«Listened to broadcast on L.G. ... at end I asked myself—How could he—how could he have abandoned everything he stood for and died in the degradation of a Renegade . . . and becoming a peer!!’» — y la entrada de diario con que el aparato coteja la frase del script sobre el héroe caído del pedestal, con las palabras de ella.

«Since these scripts were written I have learned from Mrs. Douglas Fawcett that Winifred used to stay at her parents’ house in Wales, when she herself was a young girl and Winifred newly married.» — la automatista coteja el nombre que el script daba a medias, gracias a una carta recibida seis años después de escrito.

«My maiden name was Pryce . . . the original form was Prys (son of Rys) . . . Winifred Tennant periodically came to stay at Gumley and invariably had battles (fierce) with my father, an out and out Conservative and one who politically disliked Lloyd George, because he had just brought in Form 4, a measure which greatly affected landed proprietors adversely financially”.’» — la carta que sostiene ese cotejo, releída entera en el crudo: da el apellido con sus dos formas y da por ciertas las riñas políticas que el script menciona, con la medida fiscal que las causaba.

«After the death of her baby daughter Daphne, Winifred writes in her diary that she is ‘finished with life’ and ‘each day brings me nearer Home’.» — el aparato coteja el duelo que el script relata con lo que ella escribió entonces en su diario.

«In moving words she retells what is told in the Balfour Study, pp. 49-53. The two accounts complement each other although dealing with the same subject matter and in places using identical words.» — la editora sitúa este relato frente al del estudio anterior y dice exactamente en qué relación los pone, dos versiones que se complementan y en partes coinciden palabra por palabra.

«In her diary, November 1, 1904, Winifred writes: ‘Fred’s new book out ... he was a strange man with a brusqueness and irritability of temper that disconcerted one» — el aparato coteja el retrato de carácter del comunicador con lo que la comunicadora escribió de él en vida, en su diario.

«A correct account of Myer’s secret love. Not made public till a couple of years later than this script. See paper by W. H. Salter in S.P.R. ‘Proceedings’, vol. 52.» — y la nota que da el pasaje por correcto con su argumento de fecha, que no se hizo público hasta un par de años después de este script.

«G.C. cites letter from W. H. Salter (25.1.58) that ‘When she (^Winifred)] began to get communications from Myers, Eveleen behaved very badly to her, as to other automatists of the S.P.R. group’. When Mrs. Verrall, Mr. Salter’s mother-in-law got communications from Myers soon after his death, and thought to please Eveleen by showing them to her, quite the contrary was the case.» — la automatista cita una carta del investigador, releída entera en el crudo, que coteja los celos de la viuda con su conducta hacia las automatistas del grupo, y el episodio de quien creyó complacerla mostrándole unas comunicaciones.

«In her diary for December 22, 1909, Winifred writes: ‘Edmund Gurney—no one will ever know the constant help I have received from him.’—Gurney, born 1847, died 1888; together with F. W. H. Myers the chief founders of the S.P.R. In the Balfour Study, p. 52, Winifred is quoted as saying that (in her trance state) ‘I don’t feel a sense of “seeing” but an intense sense of personality, like a blind person perhaps might have» — la nota que coteja el pasaje del visitante invisible, releída entera en el crudo: una entrada de diario de 1909 sobre la ayuda constante de ese comunicador, las fechas de su vida y, del estudio anterior, la misma figura de la persona ciega en boca de ella.

«Winifred in a script of January 29, 1909 (Balfour Study) writes: . . . Gurney ... I am always keeping in closest touch with you» — y la nota pone enfrente el script de 1909 donde ese mismo comunicador decía lo mismo, que es el cotejo que convierte el pasaje en evidencia.

«A reference to Myers theory of the soul, see Balfour study, p. 268. As Myers and Balfour are ‘in charge’ of these Willett scripts, it seems natural that their ideas are occasionally brought in.» — la nota remite la figura del eje y los radios a la teoría del alma del comunicador que el libro dice al mando, y de ahí saca que sus ideas asomen.

«After the scripts were terminated G.C. was shown a photograph of Winifred as a young woman in a group. She looked ‘decidedly stout’ in it. Mrs. C.S., also told G.C. that she had heard from an acquaintance of Winifred’s that the latter was distressed by her stoutness.» — el aparato coteja el rasgo físico del script con una fotografía vista después y con un testimonio de segunda mano.

«In her diary for April IS, 1898, Winifred writes: ‘I think French women are the most elegant in the world.’» — y coteja el juicio sobre las francesas con una entrada de diario de 1898, escrita sesenta años antes del script.

«See Balfour Study, p. 57, where she is reported to be ‘very dazed’ by the communicator.» — la nota coteja el aturdimiento tras la sesión con el estudio anterior, donde se la describe igual.

«This throws us again to the Balfour Study, that most fundamental document. Much of what is said by her in this script can be almost paralleled in the Study, yet never literally, because it is told from the medium’s point of view and in her style, again the difference between the ‘metaphysical Scotsman’ and the lady who is intelligent but no scholar.» — la editora vuelve a poner este script frente al estudio anterior y a fijar la relación entre los dos, paralelos pero nunca literales, por la diferencia de punto de vista y de estilo.

«Until 1908, however, she was a passive member. Until 1908 her attitude towards death was vaguely pessimistic. During the Boer War, she writes in her diary about ‘the dead who sleep a dreamless sleep’. In May, 1904, at the death-bed of Henry M. Stanley, she writes: ‘Oh this process of dying, how bitter it is! This dying by inches ... is there any spring for human beings ... is there a beyond . . . when the mechanism breaks up does anything survive?’» — la editora coteja el giro de 1908 con las propias palabras de la comunicadora en su diario, con el sueño sin sueños y la pregunta ante un lecho de muerte.

«She writes in her diary for January, 1909: ‘S.P.R. and cognate interests have of course become the chief thing in my life, the absorbing interest, the greatest source of hope and strength. The miracles wrought by them none will ever know, of succour and compassion and inspiration—nor any words of mine convey the passionate gratitude which reaches out to them from the inmost fibre of my being. ‘If this work be not denied me, I feel I can go on, but I can wait . . .’» — y la entrada de enero de 1909, releída entera en el crudo, donde la comunicadora declara la investigación psíquica la cosa principal de su vida y su mayor fuente de esperanza, con la gratitud dicha en sus propias palabras.

«She had called her dead child The Darling, and in her diary she speaks of the S.P.R. experiments as ‘The Darling’s work’.» — y el nombre con que, según la editora, la comunicadora llamaba en su diario a los experimentos, por el de la hija muerta.

«Of the S.P.R. the most surprising thing to me is Oliver Lodge. His accueil to me has been astonishing—so extraordinarily kind and gentle and understanding, so unlike my idea of a Professor. I have lost any sense of shrinking in that respect which I had and feel as if I knew him already.» — la entrada de diario de 1909 con que la nota coteja el retrato del científico que el script hace medio siglo después, con la palabra francesa que ella usa.

«Most of the facts mentioned in this script are verified in the Balfour Study as well as in Mrs. Willett’s own diaries. But her feelings on her meeting with Sir Oliver are not recorded in the Study.» — y la nota separa lo que está verificado de lo que no lo está: los hechos sí, en el estudio y en los diarios, pero no lo que ella sintió en ese encuentro.

«Mrs. Willett once started on her recollections of the Lodge, Balfour experiments, (cf. Balfour Study), continues, but never literally copying the B.S. either in sequence or in words.» — la nota general que el aparato repite en cada script de esta serie, que el relato sigue al estudio anterior sin copiarlo ni en orden ni en palabras.

«it gives me no more sense of oddness to be talking to these invisible people than it does to be talking to my son, for instance. But ... it is as “minds” and “characters” that they are to me, and yet not at all intangible or not-solid realities.» — la nota coteja el trato con los comunicadores con una carta de la comunicadora de 1909, donde dice no hallarlo más raro que hablar con su hijo y tenerlos por mentes y caracteres.

«These ‘mental impressions’ are called in the Balfour Study ‘D.I.’s’, daylight impressions. Mrs. Willett, probably distrustful of G.C.’s ability to get this odd expression straight, links it up with ‘D.Day’ which G.C. has heard of, but the result seems to be that instead of ‘D.I.’ what sticks in G.C.’s mind is ‘D.Day Impression’ or ‘D.D.I.’.» — la nota que registra el desfase entre los dos términos y lo explica por el propio libro: el estudio anterior decía impresiones de día y aquí sale otra sigla, y la nota lo atribuye a un recurso para que la automatista no se confundiera.

«The distinction is made in the Balfour Study, p. 51, between ‘Daylight Impression’, which are ‘mentally received communications that are consciously apprehended and either noted down at the time or subsequently remembered and recorded’, and what he calls ‘Spoken D.I.’s’, in which the ‘messages as they come are repeated aloud in the presence of a sitter’.» — la nota trae del estudio anterior la misma distinción de dos clases, con las definiciones de entonces.

«It has not been possible to find this expression elsewhere in her normal writings. Perhaps she used it in the script as another device for helping the medium not to confuse the two expressions.» — y la nota declara el límite de ese cotejo: el segundo nombre no se halla en los escritos normales de la comunicadora, y lo explica con la cautela de un quizá.

«Once when Sir Oliver was visiting us he said he was going to walk to the village. I was a little boy but I asked if I could come. “Well,” he said, “as a matter of fact, I was going to run.” “All right,” I said, and so he took me by the hand and we both ran to the village.’—So the simile of a champion runner in this script seems natural to Sir Oliver.» — el hijo mayor coteja el símil del corredor con un recuerdo de infancia sobre ese mismo hombre, y el aparato saca de ahí que la broma le cuadra.

«This mention of St. Teresa seemed odd, but in Mrs. Tennant’s diary for July, 1945, an entry was found recording that she has put up a memorial to her dead son which includes an ‘ex-voto’ to St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus.» — el aparato declara rara la mención de esa santa y después halla en un diario la entrada que la explica, un exvoto en el monumento al hijo muerto.

«Lodge, that’s Edmund who speaks now, did you notice just now she was so completely over the border that, though in those instants things swept into her consciousness, she couldn’t pass them back?’» — la nota coteja la amnesia tras la sesión con un pasaje del estudio anterior, en boca de uno de los comunicadores de entonces.

«This must hinge on what is meant by ‘unconscious’, for it seems that she gave many trance sittings after this one.» — y la nota pone un reparo al propio script, con la hipótesis dicha como tal: la promesa de no perder la consciencia depende de qué se entienda por esa palabra.

«Winifred had had a sitting with Mrs. Piper, as recorded in her diary for June 26, 1910. She says that she thought it ‘unpleasantly uncanny’.» — la nota coteja con un diario la alusión del script a otra médium famosa y a lo que la comunicadora temía.

«Oh—(pause)—Fred. Fred. So strange to be somebody else. To feel somebody’s heart beating inside you and somebody else’s mind inside your mind. And there isn’t any time or place, and either you’re loosed or they’re entered, and you all of a sudden know every¬ thing that ever was. You understand everything. It’s like every single thing and time and thought and everything brought down to one point.’» — la nota pone enfrente el pasaje del estudio anterior donde la propia comunicadora describía en 1918 esa experiencia con casi las mismas palabras, releído entero en el crudo; la nota añade que estaba citado en uno de los dos libros que la automatista sí había leído.

«The Group Soul is a concept in communication said to be from F. W. H. Myers to G.C. See pp. 62—5 in The Road to Immortality by G. C. (1955), and pp. 68-72 in Beyond Human Personality by G.C. (1935), where the ideas found in this script appear to have their origin, F. W. H. Myers of course being their supposed originator in either case.» — la nota remite la doctrina del alma de grupo a dos libros anteriores de la propia automatista, donde se atribuye al mismo comunicador, y dice que ahí parecen tener su origen las ideas de este script; se relee entera en el crudo por llevar dos años entre paréntesis.

«Lady Constance Lytton was the sister of Lady Betty Balfour, the wife of Gerald Balfour. On the one occasion, in 1939, when G.C. met the Balfours (see page 3) Lady Betty gave her Prisons and Prisoners, her sister’s book, which, G.C. says, ‘of course I read.’» — la nota identifica a esa mujer y consigna el dato que juega en contra del script, que la automatista había recibido y leído su libro en 1939.

«This script could, therefore, be said to be a welling-up from G.C.’s ‘Unconscious’. But was Mrs. Willett deeply interested in the Woman Suffrage Movement, and did she have strong feelings on the subject of how prisoners are or were treated?» — y la editora saca de ahí la objeción en sus propios términos, que el script podría ser un brote del inconsciente de la automatista, y la convierte en dos preguntas comprobables.

«Her son, A.T., states that his mother was indeed interested in the Woman Suffrage Movement. Though she was not a militant, she went to the length of waiting outside the Neath station (near their Welsh home) to distribute pamphlets for the cause to the returning miners. One of them threw a pamphlet back at her, exclaiming, ‘I’d like to drown you in your own canal!’» — la respuesta del hijo mayor a esas dos preguntas, releída entera en el crudo: la madre interesada aunque no militante, repartiendo folletos a los mineros a la salida de la estación, con la frase que uno le devolvió.

«On July 12, H.T. wrote to G.C., who was then in her Irish home near Cork, he being at the Hague in Holland, that his mother ‘if she still exists and is able to follow terrestrial events’ would certainly have been with him at this time, ‘and might be willing to com¬ municate about these shared experiences’. She had been a good deal in his thoughts.» — la editora fecha la carta del hijo que llega un día después de este script, con las palabras condicionales con que él escribía de su madre.

«One might say that Winifred saw this question being framed in H.T.’s mind, and, through G.C., answered it before it was written.» — y la lectura que la editora propone de esa coincidencia de fechas, con la fórmula cautelosa de un cabría decir.

«It has not been discovered who ‘Peter’ is. The reference may be tc the impending publication of ‘Fred’s’ (F. W. H. Myers) private papers regarding his first love. They were published under the editor¬ ship of Mr. W. H. Salter in vol. 52, part 187, of the ‘Proceedings of the S.P.R.’, October, 1958.» — la nota declara no haber identificado un nombre del mensaje enigmático y ofrece la referencia posible, con la cautela de un puede ser.

«In a letter to G.C., after receipt of the script in which his mother describes her ‘mystical experience’ with him, H.T. says that he was not himself aware of this. It does not correspond to any ex¬ perience of his own which prompted his request.» — la nota consigna la negativa del hijo sobre esa experiencia compartida, que él no tuvo conciencia de ella ni le corresponde nada propio.

«The episode of the doctor has puzzled both the automatist and the editor. As for Mrs. Winifred Tennant’s consultation of a doctor whom she happened to meet, that does not puzzle her son, A.T., since he says that his mother was far from averse to consulting doctors.» — la nota declara desconcertados a la automatista y a la editora por ese episodio, y salva solo el rasgo de carácter que el hijo mayor reconoce.

«As to the use of the words ‘Osmund’ and ‘psychedelic’, Winifred thinks that ‘Osmund’ refers to the Royal Fern, ‘Osmunda’—she was herself a keen gardener, but ‘Psychedelic’, so incomprehensible to her and to the automatist and, till quite recently, to the editor, is a word introduced about 1951 by Dr. Henry Osmond to designate a group of ‘mind-manifesting’ agents, such as mescaline, lysergic acid, psilocybin and many others. In the case of mescaline, at any rate, the subject of the experiment does well to avoid ‘a rich protein diet’ before taking.» — la nota que hace de ese episodio el hallazgo del libro, releída entera en el crudo: registra que la palabra era incomprensible para la comunicadora, para la automatista y hasta hace poco para la editora, la data hacia 1951 y la atribuye a un médico que la acuñó para unos agentes que nombra uno por uno, y da por buena hasta la indicación dietética.

«In his other-world diary Swedenborg claims to have observed the same phenomenon.» — la nota vuelve a poner a Swedenborg al lado de un pasaje del script, que es el cotejo que la editora emplea a lo largo del libro.

«This was a correct impression. H.T. and Mr. W. H. Salter had met to discuss publication of certain of Mrs. Willett’s sittings with Sir Oliver Lodge and Lord Balfour (Gerald Balfour).» — la nota da por correcta la impresión del sueño del script treinta y uno, con el asunto que los dos hombres trataban.

«In a later script, not included in this collection, Winifred mentions the above meeting as having taken place in Holland. This was not the case, but A.T. says that there had been a plan, which miscarried, that the two should meet in Holland.» — y la nota consigna el error de lugar de un script posterior no incluido, junto con el plan fallido que lo explicaría en parte; el volumen declara así que la selección deja fuera material.

«Sample of automatic or transmitted writing. (facsimile from Script 32).» — el pie de la segunda lámina de facsímiles, que usa los dos términos, automática y transmitida, que el libro discute; la plana es solo imagen y el troceo la devuelve como ruido salvo el pie.

«It is correct that H.T. had recently studied the evidence in this case. As mentioned before, nothing was published about it until a couple of years after the Cummins-Willett scripts.» — la nota da por correcto el dato de que el hijo estudiaba entonces ese caso y repite el argumento de fecha del libro entero.

«Winifred who had to be helped to communicate at the begin¬ ning, and then learned how to do it unaided, is now in a new role, herself the guardian and helper of a soul that has more recently died. For evidential purposes the identity of this deceased person is left hidden from the automatist, G.C., and even from G.C.’s ‘control’, Astor.» — la editora señala el giro del caso: la que necesitaba ayuda para comunicar aparece ahora de guardiana de otra alma, y declara el protocolo de esta serie, que la identidad de la muerta se oculta a la automatista y al control.

«Margaret Verrall’s daughter, Helen, married to W. H. Salter, had died suddenly in April, 1959. Mr. ‘X’ is meant to stand for Mr. Salter.» — la nota levanta los dos nombres supuestos y da la fecha de la muerte, que es de abril de 1959, un mes antes de este script.

«This script took me in. I did not know who X was.’» — y la automatista declara en una línea que el velo también funcionó con ella.

«A curious statement if it is not made by a discarnate intelligence, [n that case it is G.C.’s ‘subliminal mind’ dismissing its own statement ibout itself—that it is a separate intelligence, called Astor, who laims to have been an ancient Greek doctor. See pamphlet by Miss E. B. Gibbes on The Controls of Geraldine Cummins.» — la nota del aparato señala lo que tiene de curioso esa afirmación: si no la hace una inteligencia descarnada, es la mente subliminal de la automatista negando lo que ella misma dice de sí, que es una inteligencia aparte.

«Edmund Gurney was a distant cousin of W. H. Salter.» — la nota da por correcto el parentesco que el script alega entre el comunicador asistente y el investigador.

«Correct. Mrs. Willett’s best psychic work is considered to have been done before Mrs. Verrall’s death in 1915.» — y la nota da por correcta la afirmación del script sobre cuándo hizo la comunicadora su mejor trabajo psíquico.

«It was wrongly assumed by both G.C. and Astor that this script was for Mrs. Flower, so it was posted to her. Mrs. Flower denied that the script applied to her. She has, for instance, no playwright ancestor, etc. Mrs. Flower and G.C. then agreed that the script was a subconscious production, because G.C. had written Irish peasant plays for the Abbey Theatre, and the script described a playwright at work. This surmise was strengthened by the mention of the communicator’s trouble with arthritis, as Mrs. Flower also suffered from it.» — la nota que cuenta el error entero, releída en el crudo: el script se mandó a la persona equivocada, ella lo negó, y la automatista y ella lo dieron por producción subconsciente con dos razones plausibles, la propia obra teatral de la automatista y la artritis de la destinataria.

«suffered increasingly from arthritis, bearing pain and disability with remarkable cheerfulness.» — la carta del investigador que coteja la enfermedad que el script atribuía a esa voz.

«The impression of A. W. Verrall is most interesting. Much of his work lay in interpre¬ ting, editing and in some cases translating the Greek dramatists. He was a magnificent lecturer; it was often said that his lectures were as good as plays.» — y la que coteja el oficio: el trabajo de ese hombre sobre los dramaturgos griegos y la fama de sus conferencias, que es lo que el control había descrito sin nombrarlo.

«Helen Verrall Salter took a degree at Dublin University at a time when Cambridge did not give women degrees.» — la nota explica un detalle del script por la historia de las universidades, que es el tipo de dato con que el aparato coteja.

«In Mrs. Willett’s early diaries there is plenty of evidence of how she felt towards Mrs. Eveleen and also came to feel towards her other sister-in-law, Dorothy, for ‘their untruthful, unscrupulous ways’ (February 23, 1908).» — la nota coteja con los diarios el resentimiento que el script atribuye a la comunicadora hacia sus cuñadas, con las palabras que ella les dedicaba.

«Written before G.C. met Mrs. Tennant’s two sons. She met Henry T. for a few minutes on December 3, 1959, Alex one evening in February, 1960.» — la acotación que el volumen pone al script treinta y nueve, con las dos fechas de los encuentros en persona, que es el dato de método sobre el que descansa este script.

«Here Winifred doesn’t try to present obvious ‘evidential’ facts. Those mentioned here have already been registered. Now she makes a general survey for the purpose of correcting what she feels is an unjust attitude she has had in the past towards her older son. It was written before G.C. met either of the sons.» — la nota general señala que este script no busca evidencia sino corregir una injusticia, y vuelve a fechar el encuentro en persona después.

«Winifred started by wishing to convince her younger son H.T. of her continued existence. That was the bait which the communicators Balfour and Myers used to make her consent to play the medium once more. During the two years and two months or so that the experiment lasted Winifred changed. She came to understand and value her older son much more. Hers was not a case of ‘static’ survival.» — y la conclusión con que la editora cierra la serie de scripts, que la comunicadora cambió en el curso de los dos años y que su supervivencia no fue estática.

«It is the case that a few years (I forget just how long) before “Winifred’s” death, Helen called on her, and was rather surprised that she dismissed so firmly (“brusquely” is not an exaggeration) any attempt to discuss the old script material.’» — la carta del investigador que coteja el desaire del script cuarenta, con la palabra del propio script recogida y dada por suya.

«Neither the automatist, G.C., nor the sitter, Mrs. Flower, knew anything about this matter. G.C. had never met Mrs. Salter.» — y el dato de método que lo convierte en evidencia, que ni la automatista ni la asistente sabían nada de ese episodio.

«“Pid” for J. P. Piddington is good. It was what we always called him. It dates back to his sittings with Mrs. Piper, whose control used to address him like that.» — el investigador coteja un apodo del script y lo remonta a las sesiones de ese hombre con otra médium.

«The remarks about my staying on at Crown House represent my own change of feeling, which Helen, if still aware of earthly matters, might very likely share. I was, for a few months after her death, strongly inclined to move, but decided against doing so.’» — y la última anotación del volumen, donde el investigador reconoce en el script un cambio de sentir propio, con la condicional de un si todavía es consciente de las cosas terrenas.

Daimon (entidad intermedia, ni ángel ni demonio) — Cummins declara que le disgusta la palabra *control*, corriente en la investigación psíquica para el guardián de un médium, y prefiere para el suyo el nombre que Sócrates daba a su cuidador subliminal.

Imaginación (phantasia) — Es el término técnico del volumen: el script del 22 de marzo de 1958 hace del deseo la condición de toda comunicación y define el deseo como la emoción anhelante cuya fuente es la imaginación, que forma imágenes ideales; de ahí que los casos se agoten cuando la imaginación queda sometida al intelecto, y que el caso de las correspondencias cruzadas se explique por una imagen ideal compartida. Cummins, por su lado, pone la imaginación como tercer paso de su método, después de la quietud y el deseo.

Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — La mediumnidad de la comunicadora fue, según Broad, un secreto guardado con el mayor cuidado; los scripts dan tres razones distintas de ese secreto —un miedo sembrado en la infancia, el consejo de un comunicador y la defensa contra la imputación de locura— y el volumen mide su hondura por lo que los dos hijos ignoraban.