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The Link – Matthew Manning

One incident that occurred at just such a time is very interesting.  At Christmas in 1972 I began a large drawing purporting to be by Isaac Oliver. I had asked him to draw for me Elizabeth I on a sheet of card 21 inches by 25 inches. He started in the centre of the sheet and worked out towards the edge, leaving not one square inch untouched with intricate detail.

I was still working on it, when I was asked if it could be used to illustrate a school magazine. I agreed, not knowing that I was only to be allowed a further seven days to complete nearly one-quarter of it. One Sunday afternoon a friend came to tell me that if it was to be included in the magazine he had to have it by the following morning. This was, I thought as good as impossible. With the space left that had to be filled in, I had not enough energy to complete it.

However, at 7.00 that evening I began drawing again, knowing that if I ran out of energy I would be unable to complete the picture.

An hour later my energy was running low. By 8.00 nothing was coming from my hand. As far as I could see, I was unable to complete the drawing. It was at just about this time that another friend came in to see how I was getting on. I explained my predicament to him, and after some moments he said:

"I wonder whether it would make any difference if I collect up a group of people who will all concentrate on you, while you try and continue drawing. It is conceivable that we might achieve some sort of energy transference, so that you can use our energy to finish the drawing with."

We did as he suggested. He sat in another room, about ten yards away, with four other people, who all concentrated hard on me. I sat down again to draw and I concentrated on Isaac Oliver. Slowly my hand began to move and draw again. Initially I thought it was the remains of my energy producing the movement of my hand.

However, the energy seemed to be increasing, and I found no difficulties in drawing at my original speed. By 11.00 p.m. the picture was complete.

This incident did seem to have close connections with the method by which my younger sister can sometimes write automatically. She needs my presence as an additional external source of energy.