Europe had its fair share of seers and spiritualists, but in America, the first seer to make waves was Andrew Jackson Davis. He is recorded as having a “talent” that started as an early age. In this article, you will learn more about Davis and his predictions.
Davis was born in Orange County, New York, in 1826 to a farming family barely making ends meet. It is said that records exist of Davis where he had visions and heard voices as an infant. Many believed that he was born with the gift of clairvoyance. In 1843, a mesmerist traveling through Davis’ community spent some time with him , helping him to fine-tune his ability. It is then that he learned how to enter a stance-like state. The news of Davis’ abilities spread, which encouraged him to travel around the country. He held clairvoyant seminars and demonstrated his skills in the field to the public.
By 1845, Davis started publishing books that were dictated while he was in a trance. These sessions were described as him nearly ‘speaking in tongues.’ Davis was an uneducated man and in some of his trances, he would speak of advanced medical theories and other subjects that he had no previous knowledge of. He quickly earned the reputation for being able to diagnose and cure diseases without ever having any formal training in specific subjects.
In his books, Davis wrote of prophecies that spoke of objects unheard of at his time. He gained the support and interest of well-known figures, such as the infamous author, Edgar Allen Poe, who became a follower of his work after seeing Davis at a lecture. Not everyone was keen on Davis and his abilities, who criticized the seer and his motives.
The Predictions of Andrew Jackson Davis
Transportation was a hot topic regarding the predictions of Andrew Jackson Davis. He predicted railways, motor vehicles, and air travel. Davis said:
· “Cars may be constructed so that no accident or even collision would be dangerous to either passengers or baggage.”
· “Carriages and traveling saloons will move along country roads , sans horse, sans stream, sans any visible motive power, moving with greater speed and safety that at present.”
· “It will not only be the locomotive on the rail, and the carriage on the country road, but aerial cars, also, which will move through the sky from country to country.”
The Works of Andrew Jackson Davis
The reputation of Davis grew among the people because of the predictions he published in his books, as well as lecture tours he gave around the country. Between 1844 and 1847, Davis focused on magnetic healing and was quite successful in this field. In 1847, he published The Principles of Nature and Her Divine Revelations. He also shared with the world a Voice to Mankind, which was dictated to a scribe while he was in a trance. His lectures were not as lucrative or influential as his books, so he went back to paying more attention to writing his books. He would publish 30 in all. Some of his works included:
· The Great Harmonia (1850,1861) , A six-volume encyclopedia.
· The Philosophy of Special Providences (1850) , Spoke of miracles and other topics.
· The Magic Staff: an Autobiography (1857)
