From India to the Planet Mars [Paperback]

Theodore Flournoy (Author), Mireille Cifali (Author), Sonu Shamdasani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 1994

A classic in the field of psychology, From India to the Planet Mars (1900) depicts the remarkable multiple existence of the medium H

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr (November 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691001014
• ISBN-13: 978-0691001012
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,663,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A peek into "another world", October 31, 2005

By 

L. Stearns Newburg "LSN" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From India to the Planet Mars (Paperback)

If you are a voyeur at heart, you will love this book. Theodore Flournoy, Professor of Psychophysiology at the University of Geneva, got extremely close to his subject, Catherine Elise Muller, who he gave the pseudonym Helene Smith, and studied her for five years. On many occasions he provided his home as the locale for her excursions, each of which lasted several hours. And the subject rewarded Flournoy with an amazing display of behaviors.

Helene Smith was a Swiss medium. She created an alter ego for herself, Leopold, a reincarnation of Cagliostro, who regularly explained Helene's acts to Flournoy and provided suggestions for appropriate responses to her. Helene would often go into a deep sleep, and Leopold would carry on in her absence. What she and her friends perceived as visitations from spirits, Flournoy interpreted as manifestations of multiple personalities.

The book details Helene's seances, during some of which she would be possessed by the spirit of Marie Antoinette. On other occasions she would be possessed by Princess Simandini, a 15th century Arab princess married to a Hindoo potentate, and would re-enact her immolation on her husband's funeral pyre. She even proclaimed Flournoy the reincarnation of her deceased husband Sivrouka and re-enacted various scenes of their lives with him. In the course of her re-enactments, she spoke Sanskrit.

Her most extravagant exercise, however, was her migration to Mars and her description of Martian life, complete with specimens of the Martian language. Flournoy gives us a good look at Helene's impressions of life on Mars and transcriptions and translations of her Martian texts, These he dissects, reducing them to a variation on the French language.

Flournoy searched for genuine historical references to the events Helene re-enacted, and on occasion he made some very interesting discoveries. In the last pages of the book, he takes great pains to give us his assessment of Helene's displays and of spiritism in general. He dismisses both as genuine communications with the dead and recommends the ordinary religion of the day to those in need of sustenance. She never forgave him for it, and he never found another subject who rewarded his efforts with such prodigious feats.

The book is a joy to read. Flournoy's descriptions are thorough (and ultimately devastating), and his treatment of Helene is both gentle and entertaining, often tongue-in-cheek. Daniel B. Vermilye's 1901 translation, edited, restored, and introduced by Sonu Shamdasani, is fresh and entertaining. The explanatory and critical materials added for the benefit of readers removed by a century from the actual occurrences are genuinely helpful. I found the book fascinating.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From India to the Planet Mars, July 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: From India to the Planet Mars (Paperback)

Sonu Shamdasani's insightful preface to Fluornoy's classic study makes this book well worth rereading. The case of Hélène Smith was a hallmark in the early development of modern psychology. This is one of the first scientific studies of mediumship, making it a classic both for students of psychology and for those interested in parapsychology as well. Fluornoy's careful and measured scientific insight combined with his writing style give this work the fascination of a novel and the import of a scientific work.

4.0 out of 5 stars From Fantasy to Delusion, October 9, 2010

By 

Johns (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From India to the Planet Mars (Paperback)

This book comes from a lost time period, a time when it was not off-limits for serious minded people to investigate the paranormal. This book is a very good effort to investigate the claims of one deluded woman and her apparent spirit guide, Leopold.

In France, thanks to Allen Kardec, spiritualists believed in reincarnation. However, as is the case with believers in reincarnation, the "past lives" of the woman going by the name of Helene Smith, were somewhat exotic, perhaps reflecting the egotistical nature of the believers in this philosophy.

The great merit of this book is that it focuses on one case only, and under repeated questioning the Leopold character/alter-ego starts breaking down. Leopold says on one occasion that his name was an arbitrary pseudonym, on another he says it was the name of one of his friends. Despite being the supposedly legendary Cagliostro, Leopold was unable to communicate in Italian, and made the excuse that as Helene had heard the language all around her, Flournoy would say that Helene would have fabricated the language through having heard it around her.

One previous lifetime sees Helene as an Arabian princess. She presents scenes of her father the sheik, tents gleaming in the sunlight, camels and Arabian landscapes, yet is unable to speak any Arabic! In another lifetime she is an unhappy Marie Antoinette, reflecting on the bitter irony of things such as how dreams are annihilated by brutal reality. That might be a subconscious reflection on how Helene's fantasies were being revealed as delusions by Flournoy's probings.

Flournoy seems to have been unsettled by the demonstration of genuine paranormal phenomena and declares himself convinced of the reality of telekinesis, thanks to the research of Charles Richet and the paranormal phenomena displayed in the trance sessions of Eusapia Palladino. However, he declares that the likelihood of a medium being genuine is 99-1. This book does seem to suggest that when someone communicates with a supposed dead relative, what they are actually doing is communicating with latent memories held in one of the participant's subconscious.