The Call, Part Six: The Skrying Call

Here is the meaning -- Emma's meaning -- of the word call, taken from Northcote Thomas' Crystal Gazing: Its History and Practice, with a Discussion of the Evidence for Telepathic Scrying (1905):

Lest there be any doubt, among her occult-literate readers, about the reason for Emma's involvement with the members of the 'Orphic Circle', she makes it plain enough in her Autobiography -- she was a skryer, and knew the ceremonial drill.

I'm sure I'll keep returning to this topic, as it is so central to Emma's life and work, but it seems plain enough to me at this point that Emma's major claims, about people and practices, during the 1830s and 1840s are substantiated by the available evidence. Every person she names -- in her Sirius article -- as a member of the 'Orphic Circle' can be demonstrated to be involved in one or both of the two strange attractors for these sorts of practices at the time: the circle around the Mercurii, or the Gore House circle. The specific practices Emma suggests or identifies are indeed in vogue, and Emma is familiar with procedures, equipment and locales consistent with what we know about the historical figures she wants to implicate.

This is, I think, as close as we will come to proving the matter. Perhaps Morrison, like John Dee before him, left detailed notes of his skrying sessions that have not come to light, and perhaps those name Emma. But I doubt it.

The most likely ways in which Emma became involved in the 'Orphic Circle' are therefore:

1. Through Richard Morrison, whether as a skryer for his astronomical investigations, or his public performances, or
2. through a meeting with Varley, Dickens or Chauncey Hare Townshend at Gore House, where Emma would have been placed, by Thomas Welsh, as a musician.

So, no QED, unfortunately, but (in my opinion) Emma's account of matters once again proves to be substantially accurate.