2860. Spirits who are portraying another person can be so misled, that the [impersonating] spirit, as well as an acquaintance of the person, cannot tell but that it is that very person.
It has been shown to me many times that spirits who spoke with me did not know but that they were people I had thought about, and neither did other spirits know better - for example yesterday and today, someone who was so similar to an acquaintance of mine in life in every respect, as far as I knew, that nothing could be more similar [see 2686-2687]. Therefore, those who speak with spirits should beware of being deceived when they tell that they are the ones they knew, and that they had died.
2860. THAT SPIRITS WHO REPRESENT ANOTHER PERSON CAN BE INDUCED [TO BELIEVE] (THAT THEY ARE THE SAME AS THOSE WHOM THEY REPRESENT) AND THAT A SPIRIT, EVEN [ONE] WHO HAS BEEN KNOWN TO [ANOTHER] SPIRIT CANNOT KNOW OTHER THAN THAT [THE OTHER SPIRIT] IS THE SAME [AS THE ONE HE REPRESENTS].
This was many times shown me, that spirits [who] spoke with me, did not know other than that they were the same, of whom I thought [cogitatum] nor did other spirits know otherwise: for instance [sicut] a certain one whom I knew in life was so similar to him (who yesterday and today spoke with me), in everything that was his, that as far as I knew, nothing [could be] more similar. Wherefore let those who speak with spirits be careful lest they be deceived, when [spirits] tell them, that they are those who were known to them, and that [they] are dead.
2860. Quod induci possint spiritus, qui repraesentant personam aliam, ut 1
spiritus ut et qui notus spiritui fuit, non aliter scire possit, quam quod idem esset
Multoties hoc mihi ostensum est, quod spiritus mecum loquuti non noverint aliter ac ii fuerint homines, de quibus cogitatum, et alii spiritus nec aliter noverint, sicut heri et hodie aliquis mihi in vita notus, qui tam similis ei {a} fuerit, in omnibus quae ejus, quanta 2
mihi nota sunt, ut nihil similius [vide 2686-2687]; quare qui cum spiritibus 3
loquuntur, caveant sibi ne decipiantur, cum dicunt quod ii sint, qui iis noti, et quod mortui.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has et
2. In the Manuscript quantum in quanta emendatum esse nobis videtur
3. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has spiritus ut videtur