Fire-Ordeal

Fire-ordeal: The fire-ordeal is of great antiquity, and probably arose from the conception of the purifying influence of fire. Among the Hindus, from the earliest times until comparatively recently, those who were suspected of wrongdoing were required to prove their guilt or innocence by walking over red-hot iron. If they escaped unharmed their innocence was placed beyond a doubt. The priestesses of a Cappodocian goddess, Diana Parasya, walked barefooted on red-hot coals, attributing their invulnerability to the powers of the divinity. In Europe trial by fire was of two kinds—traversing the flames, or undergoing the ordeal of hot iron. The latter form comprised the carrying in the hand of red-hot irons, the walking over iron bars or glowing ploughshares, and the thrusting of the hand into a red-hot gauntlet. An early instance of the former mode in European history is that of Pierre Barthelemy, who in 1097 declared to the Crusaders that heaven had revealed to him the place where was concealed the spear that had pierced the Saviour's body. To prove his assertion he offered to undergo the ordeal by fire, and was duly required to walk a path about a foot in width and some fourteen feet in length, on either side of which were piled blazing olive-branches. The judgment of the fire was unfavorable, and twelve days later the rash adventurer expired in agony. Books also were sometimes submitted to the trial by fire. This method was adopted to decide the claims of the Roman and Mozaratian liturgies, the former emerging victorious from the flames. Among savage people the fire-ordeal is also to be met with, and especially in New Zealand, India, Fiji, and Japan. It may be suspected that the issue of these ordeals was not always left on the knees of the gods. There is no doubt that the ancient Egyptians were acquainted with substances which rendered the body partly immune. Albertus Magnus gives a recipe for this purpose. It is made up of powdered lime, made into a paste with the white of an egg, the juice of the radish, the juice of the marsh mallow, and the seeds of the fleabane. A first coat of this mixture is applied to the body and allowed to dry, when a second coat is applied. If the feet be constantly oiled, or moistened with sulphuric acid, they may be rendered impervious. Possibly the ancients were not unaware of the fire-resisting properties of asbestos. The fire-ordeal has remained to this day as one of the phenomena of spiritualism. D. D. Home frequently handled live coals, and laid them on a handkerchief without damaging the material in the least On one occasion he enclosed a glowing coal in his hands and blew upon it until it became white hot. A well known instance is that related by Mrs. S. C. Hall, when Home placed a burning coal on the head of Mr. Hall, whose white hair was then drawn over the still glowing coal. In an account given by Mrs. Homewood and Lord Lindsay of a seance with the same medium we are told that Home took a chimney from a lighted lamp and thrust it into the fire, making it so hot that a match applied to it ignited instantly, and then thrust it into his mouth, touching it with his tongue, without any apparent ill effects. Another account states that Home placed his face right in the fire among the burning coals " moving it about as though bathing it in water." Other mediums, both in England and America, emulated this feat with some measure of success. It has been suggested that the state of trance generally accompanying such exploits, and corresponding to the ecstasy of the shaman performing a similar feat; may produce anaesthesia, or insensibility to the pain of burning. But how it comes that the skin is not scorched, nor the material of the handkerchief marked by the burning coal, it is not easy to say.

 

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05.09.03

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