The Maori
Among the Maori, the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand, (known by the Maori as "Aotearoa") the spirits of the dead played a prominent role, with the priests (or tohungas) functioning in a manner quite similar to Spiritualist mediums. Some were born with their gift. Others were devoted to the priestly office by their parents and acquired their power after the fashion of Eastern ecstatics, by prayer, fasting, and contemplation.
Prophets emerged among the Maoris during the early colonization phase of the islands. As Great Britain established hegemony in the land, her officials frequently wrote home that the Maori would never be conquered wholly. Information of the parties sent out to attack them, the color of the boats and the hour when they would arrive, the number of the enemy, and all particulars essential to Maori safety were invariably communicated to the tribes beforehand by their tohungas.
The best prophets and seers among the Maori were female. Christian missionaries tried to account for the extraordinary powers they exhibited. For example, these women listened for the sound of the spirit voice, a common designation that occurred in their communion with the dead. Skeptical observers suggested that the women who practiced such "arts of sorcery, " were really ventriloquists; yet this attempted explanation rarely accounted for the intelligence received.
In his book Old New Zealand (1863), F. E. Maning cites an interesting case of tohungaism. A certain young chief had been appointed registrar of births and deaths, when he suddenly came to a violent end. The book of registries was lost, and much inconvenience ensued. The man's relatives notified their intention of invoking his spirit and invited General Cummings to be present at the ceremony, an invitation he accepted. Cummings's story continues as follows: "The appointed time came. Fires were lit. The Tohunga repaired to the darkest corner of the room. All was silent, save the sobbing of the sisters of the deceased warrior-chief. There were 30 of us, sitting on the rush-strewn floor, the door shut and the fire now burning down to embers. Suddenly there came a voice out from the partial darkness, 'Salutation, salutation to my family, to my tribe, to you, pakeha, my friend!' Our feelings were taken by storm. The oldest sister screamed, and rushed with extended arms in the direction from whence the voice came. Her brother, seizing, restrained her by main force. Others exclaimed, 'Is it you? Is it you? Truly it is you! aue! aue!' and fell quite insensible upon the floor. The older women and some of the aged men were not moved in the slightest degree, though believing it to be the spirit of the chief.
"Whilst reflecting upon the novelty of the scene, the 'darkness visible' and the deep interest manifest, the spirit spoke again, 'Speak to me my family; speak to me, my tribe: speak to me, the pakeha!' At last the silence gave way, and the brother spoke: 'How is it with you? Is it well with you in that country?' The answer came, though not in the voice of the Tohungamedium, but in strange sepulchral sounds: 'It is well with me; my place is a good place. I have seen our friends; they are all with me!' A woman from another part of the room now anxiously cried out, 'Have you seen my sister?' 'Yes, I have seen her; she is happy in our beautiful country.' 'Tell her my love so great for her will never cease.' 'Yes, I will bear the message.' Here the native woman burst into tears, and my own bosom swelled in sympathy.
"The spirit speaking again, giving directions about property and keepsakes, I thought I would more thoroughly test the genuineness of all this: and I said, 'We cannot find your book with the registered names; where have you concealed it?' The answer came instantly, 'I concealed it between the tahuhu of my house, and the thatch; straight over you, as you go in at the door.' The brother rushed out to see. All was silence. In five minutes he came hurriedly back, with the book in his hand! It astonished me.
"It was now late, and the spirit suddenly said, 'Farewell my family, farewell, my tribe; I go.' Those present breathed an impressive farewell, when the spirit cried out again, from high in the air, 'Farewell!' "This, though seemingly tragical, is in every respect literally true. But what is that? ventriloquism, the devil, or what!"
Emma Hardinge Britten, in her book Nineteenth Century Miracles (1883), notes: "The author has herself had several proofs of the Mediumistic power possessed by these 'savages' but as her experiences may be deemed of too personal a character, we shall select our examples from other sources. One of these is furnished by a Mr. Marsden, a person who was well-known in the early days of New Zealand's colonial history, as a miner, who grew rich 'through spiritual communications.' Mr. Marsden was a gentleman who had spent much time amongst the Maoris, and who still keeps a residence in 'the King country,' that is—the district of which they hold control.
"Mr. Marsden informed the author, that his success as a gold miner, was entirely due to a communication he had received through a native woman who claimed to have the power of bringing down spirits—the Maoris, be it remembered, always insisting that the spirits descend through the air to earth to visit mortals.
"Mr. Marsden had long been prospecting unsuccessfully in the gold regions. He had a friend in partnership with him, to whom he was much attached, but who had been accidentally killed by a fall from a cliff.
"The Spirit of this man came unsolicited, on an occasion when Mr. Marsden was consulting a native seeress, for the purpose of endeavouring to trace out what had become of a valuable watch which he had lost.
"The voice of the Spirit was the first heard in the air, apparently above the roof of the hut in which they sat, calling Mr. Marsden by his familiar name of 'Mars.' Greatly startled by these sounds, several times repeated, at the Medium's command, he remained perfectly still until the voice of his friend speaking in his well-remembered Scotch accent sounded close to his ear, whilst a column of grey misty substance reared itself by his side. This apparition was plainly visible in the subdued light of the hut, to which there was only one open entrance, but no window. Though he was much startled by what he saw and heard, Mr. Marsden had presence of mind enough to gently put his hand through the misty column which remained intact, as if its substance offered no resistance to the touch. Being admonished by an earnest whisper from the Maori woman, who had fallen on her knees before the apparition, to keep still, he obeyed, when a voice—seemingly from an immense distance off—yet speaking unmistakably in his friend's Scotch accents, advised him to let the watch alone—for it was irreparably gone—but to go to the stream on the banks of which they had last had a meal together; trace it up for six miles and a half, and then, by following its course amidst the forest, he would come to a pile which would make him rich, if he chose to remain so.
"Whilst he was waiting and listening breathlessly to hear more, Mr. Marsden was startled by a slight detonation at his side. Turning his head he observed that the column of mist was gone, and in its place, a quick flash, like the reflection of a candle, was all that he beheld. Here the séance ended, and the astonished miner left the hut, convinced that he had heard the Spirit of his friend talking with him. He added, that he followed the directions given implicitly, and came to a mass of surface gold lying on the stones at the bottom of the brook in the depth of the forest. This he gathered up, and though he prospected for several days in and about that spot, he never found another particle of this precious metal. That which he had secured he added, with a deep sigh, was indeed enough to have made him independent for life, had it not soon been squandered in fruitless speculations.
"Many degrees of superstition exist among the Maoris," states a writer in the Pall Mall Gazette. "In the recesses of the Urewera country for example, diablerie has lost little of its early potency; the tohunga there remains a power in the land. Among the more enlightened natives a precautionary policy is generally followed; it is always wiser and safer, they say, to avoid conflict with the two mysterious powers tapu and makuta. Tapu is the less dangerous of the two; a house, an individual, or an article may be rendered tapu, or sacred, and if the tapu be disregarded harm will befall someone. But makuta is a powerful evil spell cast for the deliberate purpose of accomplishing harm, generally to bring about death. The tohunga is understood to be in alliance with the spirits of the dead. The Maori dreads death, and he fears the dead. Places of burial are seldom approached during the day, never at night. The spirits of the dead are believed to linger sometimes near places of burial. Without going to experts in Maori lore, who have many and varied theories to set forth, a preferable course is to discover what the average Maori of to-day thinks and believes respecting the strange powers and influences he deems are at work in the world around him.
"A Maori of this type—who can read and write, is under 40 years of age, and fairly intelligent—was drawn into a lengthy conversation with the writer. He believed, magistrates notwithstanding, that tohungas, somehow, had far more power than ordinary men. He did not think they got that power from the 'tiapo' (the devil?); they just were able to make themselves masters of men and many things in the world. There are many degrees of Tohungaism. An ordinary man or woman was powerless against a tohunga, but one tohunga could overcome another. The speaker knew of an instance of one tohunga driving the tohunga power entirely out of a weaker rival. It was a fairly recent east coast occurrence. Three Maoris had accidentally permitted their pigs to trespass into the tohunga's potato paddock, and much damage and loss was the result. The tohunga was one of the dangerous type, and being very wroth, he makutued the three men, all of whom promptly died. Nobody was brave enough to charge the tohunga with causing the death of the men; they were all afraid of this terrible makuta. At length another tohunga was heard of, one of very great power. This oracle was consulted, and he agreed to deal effectively with tohunga number one, and punish him for killing the owner of the pigs. So, following his instructions, the first-mentioned individual was seized, and much against his will, was conveyed to the home of the greater magician. Many Maoris, it should be known, stand in awe of hot water, they will not handle it, even for purposes connected with cooking or cleaning. Into a large tub of hot water the minor tohunga struggling frantically, was placed, then he was given a page torn from a Bible, which he was ordered to chew and swallow. The hot water treatment, combined with the small portion of the white man's sacred volume, did the expected work; the man was no longer a tohunga, and fretting over his lost powers, he soon afterwards died."
Spiritualism in New Zealand
Among the earliest adherents to Spiritualism in New Zealand was John Logan of Dunedin. Before he had become publicly identified with the cause of Spiritualism, an association had been formed, the members of which steadily pursued their investigations in private circles and semi-private gatherings. Logan became well known when he became the subject of a church trial. Although holding a high position in the first Presbyterian church of the city, he had been attracted to Spiritualist circles and witnessed Spiritualistic phenomena. Rumors spread around the small community that one of his own near relatives was a very remarkable medium. On March 19, 1873, Logan was summoned to appear before a church convocation, to be held for the purpose of trying his case, and if necessary, dealing with his "delinquency." That was when he was deprived of his church membership.
In many of the principal towns besides Dunedin, circles, held at first in mere idle curiosity, produced their usual fruit of mediumistic power. This again was extended into associative action, and organization into local societies. For over a year, the Spiritualists and Liberalists of Dunedin secured the services of Charles Bright as their lecturer. Bright had once been a member of the editorial staff of the Australian Melbourne Argus, and he had obtained a good reputation as a capable writer and liberal thinker. Bright's lectures in Dunedin were highly appreciated. By their scholarly style and attractive manner they served to band together those citizens who were not attracted to orthodox Christianity, both the liberal dissenting element and those attracted to Spiritualism.
In Auckland, the principal town of the North Island, the same good service was rendered to the cause of religious thought by the addresses of a Rev. Edgar, a clergyman whose absorption of Spiritualist doctrines had tended to sever him from more traditional churches and drew around him the Spiritualists of the town.
Besides the work effected by these men, the occasional visits of well-known personalities like Rev. J. M. Peebles and J. Tyerman and the effect of the many private circles held in every portion of the islands tended to promote a general, although quiet, diffusion of Spiritualist belief and practice throughout New Zealand. In 1879, a lecture tour by Emma Hardinge Britten gave added impetus to public interest and discussion concerning Spiritualism.
By 1930, the Spiritualist Church of New Zealand, headquartered in Wellington, had branches throughout New Zealand. One of the most prominent mediums was Pearl Judd, who demonstrated direct voice phenomena in full light.
Psychical Research
Interest in New Zealand in psychical research flared briefly on the heels of the development of psychical research in Australia in the 1870s; but as in the neighboring land, soon died away. Only after World War II did interest revive. In the 1990s, there was an Auckland Psychical Research Society and a branch of the Churches' Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies, as well as the Federation of Spiritual Healers. There is also a New Zealand UFO Studies in New Plymouth.
Sources:
Britten, Emma Hardinge. Nineteenth Century Miracles. New York: William Britten, 1884.
Maning, F. E. Old New Zealand. London: R. Bentley, 1884. Reprint, Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1922.
