CHAPTER XXXII
SPIRITIST VOCABULARY.
AGENERATE (from the Greek primitive a, and géine, géinomai, to engender;
that which has not been engendered). - This term expresses a variety of tangible
apparitions; the state of certain spirits who can momentarily assume the form of a living
person, so as to produce a complete illusion.
ERRATICITY. - The state of errant or wandering spirits; that is to say, of such
as are not incarnate; the state of a spirit during the intervals between two successive
corporeal existences.
EVOCATION. - The act of evoking or calling the spirit or spirits with whom we
desire to enter into communication, as distinguished from invocation, which is the act
of addressing ourselves to a spirit or spirits for help or assistance.
SPIRIT. - According to the spiritist theory, spirits are the intelligent beings of
the creation; they people the universe beyond the limits of the visible world, and
constitute the population of the invisible world; they are the souls of men who have
lived upon the earth, or in other globes, and who have quitted their corporeal envelope.
SPIRIT-RAPPERS. - A class of spirits who reveal their presence and their
quality by raps and noises of different kinds.
MEDIANIMIC (from the Latin words medium (see below), and anima, soul). -
Appertaining to the special faculty or action of intermediacy between souls in flesh and souls in the spirit-world. We say "A
medianimic communication;" "Possession of the medianimic faculty constitutes a
medium."
MEDIANIMITY (from the Latin medium, and anima; middle-man,
intermediary). - A person who serves as a go-between, or intermediary, between the
souls of spirits and of men.
MEDIUMISTIC. - Synonymous with Medianimic.
MEDIUMSHIP. - The exercise of the medianimic faculty. The calling, work,
mission, or action, of a medium.
PERISPIRIT (from the Greek peri roundabout, and the Latin spiritus, breath,
spirit). - The semi-material envelope of the soul. During incarnation, it serves as the
link or intermediary between the incarnated spirit and the matter of his fleshly body;
during erraticity, it constitutes the spirit's fluidic body, inseparable from the personality
of the spirit.
PNEUMATOGRAPHY (from the Greek pneuma, air, breath, wind, spirit, and
grapho, I write). - This word denotes the direct writing of spirits, without the use of the
medium's hand.
PSYCHOGRAPHER (from the Greek psuké butterfly, soul, and grapho, I
write). - A person who writes by psychography; a writing medium.
PSYCHOGRAPHY. - The writing of spirits by a medium's hand.
PSYCHOPHONY. - The communication of spirits by the voice of a speaking
medium.
REINCARNATION. - The return of a spirit to corporeal life; plurality of
existences, in this planet and in other material worlds.
SEMATOLOGY (from the Greek sema, a sign, and logos, a discourse). - The
language of signs. The communications of spirits by the movements of inert bodies.
SPIRITIST. - That which has to do with spiritism ; a partisan of spiritism; one
who believes in the fact of spirit-manifestations.
SPIRITUALISM. -The opposite of materialism; a belief in the existence of the spiritual and immaterial soul. We say, Spiritualism is the basis
of all religions.
SPIRITUALIST. - One who occupies himself with spiritualism; a partisan of
spiritualism. Whoever believes that there is in the universe something which is not
matter is a spiritualist, but spiritualism does not necessarily imply a belief in the
manifestations of spirits. Every spiritist is necessarily a spiritualist, but every
spiritualist is not necessarily a spiritist; the materialist is neither the one nor the other.
We say, "the spiritualist philosophy," as the antithesis of "theoretic materialism;" "A
work embodying spiritualist ideas," as the opposite of "a work embodying materialistic
ideas." We say, "Spiritist manifestations are produced by the action of spirits on
matter;" "spiritist morality is the result of teachings given by spirits." "There are
spiritualists who ridicule the spiritist belief."
In these examples, the employment of the word spiritualist for spiritist would
produce confusion.
TYPTER (from the Greek tupto, I strike). - One who has the power of
producing typtology; a rapping or tipping medium.
TYPTOLOGY. - Language of raps or tilts; a mode of spirit-communication.
Alphabetical typtology; the designation of letters (or cyphers) by raps or tilts.
