Someone once told me an amusing story which well illustrates the necessity of never abandoning common sense and the critical faculty when one treads this mysterious ground. She was dining with a certain Russian Grand Duke who was a complete believer in spiritualistic and psychic theories. A medium regularly visited his mansion and gave him messages from a certain spirit. He pointed to a small black metal figure of Osiris and said that he treasured it exceedingly. The spirit had told him that this figure of Osiris should be kept with care as he, the Grand Duke, had been a Pharaoh in a previous incarnation and at that time he possessed this very figure of Osiris which was now with him again; it was a link for him with that incarnation. The visitor listened and later, idly picking up the figure, discovered that a small label on its underside said: "Price 2 fr. 50, Galleries Lafayette, Paris."
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 13 : The Occult > # 117
