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Tobin's Spirit Guide
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hanh you, and congratulations! I reso-luedlong_agot when I first began to contemplate the idea of consolidating my research into this book,that the first thing I woutd do in print was_expressmy gratitude to you, EsteemedReader, :; an^dgiue W! my commendation. By the mere act of this book ond opening it to the first page, you lifting haue demonstratedy-ourselfto be a person of exceptional judgment and htgh inte,lligence. How do I know this? How do I know that you are not a skeptic,whoseonlypurposein reading this boolz is to scoffat its contents?BecauseI haue learned ouer the years that people of that sort do not ftnd it necess_ary to hnow-anything about a subjectin order to mahefun of it-because, of course,it is much easier for them to cling to their disbelief if they da not ullow themseluesto be confronted by facts and euidence. Francis Grose,writing nearly one hundred and fifty years ago in "The Antiquarian Repertorv," hit the
Neither Shrewsbury nor I will realize any nxonetary gain from the publication of this work---and if we did, what profit we might gain would be a rnere fractio,n of ihoi *" haie slent on ou.r research expeditions.Proceedsfrom the sale af this book, and aiy fees we might receiueas the reiult of speaking engagementsthat deriue therefrom, witt be-contriiutedtotheWestEndSociety,anorganizationoftruly selflessindiuiduals whosegreatesipleasureis giuiig happinessto others. So,then, what is in it for us? Wewilt be satisfied, and wilt feel as though o'ur effort was worthwnite, t1 we are able to *oki yor, Estuemed Read,er, more -awareof the world around you-.ognizant of ihe fact that thereare forcesafoot on earth iot of our'mah'ing. Wehaue no control ouer when and.where they.migi;t appear, but we often tlo haue recoursewhen it "o*es ti combating or otherwiseclealingutith them. This boohcontainsnot onl3tinformati.onbut aduice---our
1t has long been the fashion to laugh at the study of Antiquities, and to considerlt as the idle amusement of a few humdrum. plodding fellows,who wanting geniusfor noblei studies] Uuried themselves-i]r heaping up iltegible Manuscripts, mutilated St;tues, ottiteratea Coins,and broken Pipkins;in this the laughers
,'esearch,on how to escapefrom or frustrate a spirit thrtthaschosenyouasitsnexttarget.Needlesstosay, we would be mostpleasedto hear from anyone utho takesour aduiceand ft.ndsit benefi.cial. It seemsthat as the human race becomesmore cultured, more "ciuilized,"tnore world.Iy,it becomes lesshnowledgeableabout andlessa,ppreciatiue of th,e
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from the absurd pursuits of a few Collectors, but at the sameiime a.r argument deduced fromtheabuseorperversionolastudy,isbyno means conclusive'against the study itself." I will read,ityadmit that the world ubounds with ,niiiit""t aid. attention-seekerswho purport to i;" i;i repeated.cr.tntacts with, "the spirit u:or!,d" oia u,,i.i *ifu nappily take your mone! in exchange -ol-' -o you u;ith spurious tales of'what tlrcy lr, ',.bn,rg"ti.-"g - "ii*hat separatespeople lihe them frctnt people tino ^1u"tS"ndmy rntinagu"shrewsbury sm1th1we ;,:; ;;;;;:^icictns, not businessmerl.we tlre p;iuers, not sellers.You haue neuerseen eith.e.rone of' ns standing on a streetc()rner,tuggi.ngon. sleeues and trying tJ set an audiencegatheredfor our next shou,. t; i iroy'ior'" seenout'namesand.the aclclress of our ofltceirianaduertisement,bu1tuedid not acluerti.se in oid.n,to snnkpubticity. w" inro solic:iti.ng informailon-ute wanted you to talk to u,s ab,ut euents.yctu had experienced. ir witnessed, that rnight hauesome ,on,rrrtion with o ,ptr:;t i,oii1,.
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intelligent,deuious,afteneuil...andyetnottheslighte.stbit human. Peopleof ancient ciuilizations,not yet rnature enoughto recognizespirits for what they were,often u'orshipedspirits as gods or feared them as deruons. we tttday, with our rnotlernm'otorcarsand sophisticated steant engin'es'dismiss the earlier belief in spirits as primitiue supersti.tion-aiudgment that is not only int'prudent hut' on an indiuidual bo,sis' potentially calamitous. Euen though their ability to und'erstandwas not finely deueloped,the ancientsdid hat:eheenpttwers of obseruation'A pri'mitiue sciencewhich can d.eriue the calculations for the construction of great pyra' \ mids may not haue been as primitiue as we think. capobteof !:l:.!::,:!:::i:.t'.:iy:! l::?q":: F?!i":s centuries' preseruin'g thei'r mummifted rulers for Bab-vlctnian astronomerswereable to map the mouemetttsofcelestialbodieslhroughtheheauensatleast as tuell as we con today' Wemay doubt the abilitv of the ancientsto interpret what they obserued,but not the keennessof their skill at perceiuing what was
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