books formed by thoughts...

charles litttlefield felt that mineral salts were the physical basis of life, and that with the proper psychic/spiritual training, these minerals "charged with the vital force, become susceptible to mind control so that any picture the mind accepts as true in principle, may be fixed in them". littlefield called these forms "faith-pictures" and as early as 1902 he was able to create such images by imposing his spiritual thoughts on mineral salts while looking at them through a microscope. speaking the "magic words" he learned as a child (from a man who healed his bleeding wound by speaking the spell), he'd imagine a mental picture and eventually see it form.

his 1937 book "man, minerals, and masters" discusses the training necessary to begin such a venture - by studying ancient numerology, kaballah, the veda, yoga, and the bible - which all together forms a kind of "mystery science". he also wrote a book called "the beginning and way of life", and much of his writing talks about god, christianity, the pyramids, and "the universal plane of consciousness".

of course, i have no idea if any of his words are true, but i would hate to doubt him; because the images his little book is filled with are quite amazing... hoaxes or not, they are stunningly beautiful, and seem the kind of things joseph cornell would've coveted and kept in a small cigar box.

the two images above are both of books formed in minerals. the top one is titled "the book opened", the bottom one "the inside of the book: map of united states of america". there's so much visual goodness here i'll probably post a few more tomorrow.