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The Spiritist Review - JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES - 1861 > January
January
Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist StudiesExcerpts from the minutes
Friday, November 16th, 1860
(Private session)
Admission of two new members.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Several dissertations obtained outside the sessions are read.
2nd – Letter received from Mr. de Porry, from Marseille,
who sends the second edition of his poem Uranie as a gift to the
Society. The Society thanks the author and is happy to see he
has taken the same appreciation of his talent and applied them
to spiritist ideas. These ideas adorn a graceful form of poetry and
have a charm that makes them more easily accepted by those who
could be shocked by the severity of dogmatic expressions.
3rd – Letter from Mr. L… providing new details about the
rapping and obsessing spirit that has already been discussed by
the Society (see report below).
4th – Letter from Mrs. G… from the Indre Department, about
pranks and plundering that has victimized them for several years, attributed
to a malicious spirit. The events involve six sisters and despite
every precaution that they might have taken, their clothes are thrown
out of their drawers, although duly locked, and frequently torn apart.
5th – Mr. Th… reports a case of violent obsession exerted upon
a medium by a bad spirit, who he was able to dominate and expel
though. The spirit wrote to Mr. Th…: “I hate you because you dominate
me.” He has not showed up ever since and the medium has no
longer been molested in the exercise of his mediumship.
6th – Mr. Allan Kardec cites a personal case of remarkable
accuracy related to an indication given by the spirits: in a conversation
that took place the other day with his familiar spirit,
he was told: “You will find in today’s Le Siècle an article about this
subject which answer your question. We were the ones who inspired
the author with the thesis that he exposes, given his adhesion to the
great humanitarian reforms in preparation.”
The article that was unknown to Mr. Allan Kardec and to
the medium was in fact in the referred periodical, under the
designated title, demonstrating that the spirits may be aware of
earthly publications.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teachings. Communication received by Mr. Didier, signed
by Cazotte. Another communication by Mrs. Costel, with complaints
from a suffering and selfish spirit.
Evocations: Second conversation with the gastronome spirit who used
the name Balthazar and that someone thought to have known by the
name of Mr. G… de la R…, confirmed by the spirit.
Multiple questions: Questions addressed to St. Louis about the rapping
spirit mentioned in Mr. L… letter, as well as the case of the harassing spirit of Mrs. G… and sisters. As for the latter St. Louis acknowledges it to be
easier to moralize him since he is more mischievous than a dangerous spirit.
Friday, November 23rd, 1860
General session
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
Some messages received outside the session were read:
• A sinner enters the spiritual world, received by Mrs. Costel and
signed by Novel;
• The punishment of the selfish, by the same lady. This message is
related to another from the same spirit, obtained in the previous
session;
• Another message about the free-will, signed by Marsillac.
Thoughts from the Spirit of Truth about the communications regarding
the punishment of the selfish, received by Mr. M. C…
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teachings:
1st – The family leprechaun, signed by Charles Nodier, received
by Mrs. Costel;
2nd – Parable of Lazarus, signed by Lamennais, received by
Mr. A. Didier;
3rd – The spirit of Alfred de Musset is introduced through Ms.
Eugenie; he offers to discuss a subject chosen by the audience; since
he was asked to choose it himself he gives a remarkable dissertation
about the consolations of Spiritism. He then offers to respond to
questions and deals with the following themes: What is the influence
of poetry on Spiritism? Will there be a Spiritist art, as there
has been a Pagan and a Christian art? Women’s role in the XIX
century.
Evocations: Evocation of Cazotte who had spontaneously manifested in
the previous session. Several questions were addressed to him about the
gift of premonition that he seems to have had when alive.
SEVERAL QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS:
About the spirits’ ubiquity in visual manifestations;
About the spirits of darkness, regarding the manifestations of
Mr. Squire, that can only be produced in the dark.
Note: We will deal with this subject in a special article and we
will refer to Mr. Squire.
Mr. Jobard reads three charming poems of his authorship: Le
Bonheur des Martyrs, L’Oiseau de Paradis and L’Annexion, the last
one being a fable.
Friday, November 30th, 1860
Private session
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS:
Collective letter, signed by several members, with respect to Mr. L… The
Society accepted the conclusions from the Committee’s report.
A letter from Mr. Sol…, requesting to be dismissed from his position
as a Committee member, due to his frequent business trips that keep him
away from Paris most of the year.
The Society regrets Mr. Sol… decision but feels happy to be able to
keep him as a member. Mr. President is assigned with the task of responding
in the following terms: His replacement shall be done in due course.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Spontaneous dissertation by St. Louis with explanations
about ubiquity. Discussion about this communication.
2nd – Another one signed by Charles Nodier, obtained by a medium
uninvolved with the Society and transmitted by Mr. Didier
Sr., regarding the article against Spiritism in the Journal des Débats.
3rd – Mr. D… from the Vienne Department insistently asks
that Mr. Jean-Baptiste D…, his father in law, be evoked. The
Society never attends such requests when the objective is of private
interest, particularly when the persons involved are absent or
when those persons are unknown to the members. Nevertheless,
considering the dignifying character and the official position of
the corresponding member; the special circumstances surrounding
the deceased and his life-long sustained atheism, the Society
decides that such evocation may be useful as a subject of study. As
a consequence, he was included in the day’s schedule.
4th – Several members reported an interesting phenomenon
of physical manifestation witnessed by them. It consists of the
lifting of a person only by mediumistic influence of two young
ladies, age 15 and 16 years old respectively, who place two fingers
on the frame of a chair to have it raised nearly 3 ft. from the floor,
regardless of the weight of the person sitting in the chair, as if it
was something extremely light. The phenomenon was repeated
several times and always with the same result. The explanation
will be given in a special article.
5th – Mr. Jobard reads his article entitled La Conversion d’un
paysan.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teachings:
Dissertation about the ubiquity, from Ms. Huet, signed by Channing.
Another from Mr. A. Didier, signed by André Chénier, about the article
in the Journal des Débats. And another dissertation signed by Raquel, received
by Mrs. Costel.
A remarkable fact about two previous communications is that when a
given subject of some importance is listed to be discussed on a given day
it is common to have it discussed by several spirits through different mediums
and in different places. It seems that each spirit who is interested
in the subject wants to contribute to the teaching which is a consequence
of the communications.
Evocations:
1st – Mr. Jean-Baptiste D…, mentioned above, and his
brother, both materialists and atheists. The situation of the first one who
committed suicide is deplorable.
2nd – Evocation of Mr. C… de B…, from
Brussels, following the request of his personal acquaintance Mr. Jobard.
Friday, December 7th, 1860
Private session
Admission of Mr. C…, a Professor from Paris, as a member.
SEVERAL COMMUNICATIONS:
Reading of a dissertation signed by the Spirit of Truth, obtained in a private
session, at Mr. Allan Kardec’s house, with respect to the definition of
art and the distinction between Pagan, Christian and Spiritist art.
Mr. Theub… complements the definition saying that one can consider
pagan art as the expression of the material feeling; Christian art as the
expression of expiation and the Spiritist art as the expression of victory.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teaching:
Dissertation signed by Lamennais, through Mr. Didier.
Another dissertation through Ms. Huet, signed by Charles Nodier, in
which he continues to develop the subject initiated on August 24th, 1860,
although nobody had any memory of that fact.
And another signed by Georges, received by Mrs. Costel.
Evocations: Dr. Kane, American traveler and explorer of the North
Pole, who discovered an open sea just beyond the polar glacial belt.
Several questions:
Questions addressed to Charles Nodier about the
causes that may influence the communications in certain sessions, particularly
when the spirits don’t show their usual eloquence. The point was
discussed.
Friday, December 14th, 1860
General session
Mr. Indermuhle, from Berne, pays tribute to the Society with a German
brochure published in Glaris, in 1855, entitled L’Eternite n’est plus un secret
or Revelations les plus evidentes sur le monde des Espirits.
SEVERAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Reading of a very interesting evocation and several spiritist
dissertations obtained outside of the sessions.
2nd – The event of visual manifestation referred in the letter
of Mr. Indermuhle addressed to the Society.
3rd – Personal fact that occurred with Mr. Allan Kardec and
that can be considered as a proof of identity of the spirit of a former
character. Ms. J… received several communications with John the
Evangelist, always with a very characteristic writing and completely
different from her usual way of writing. At her request, Mr. Allan
Kardec evoked that spirit instead through Mrs. Costel, it was attested
that the writing had absolutely the same traces as that through Ms.
J…, although the new medium did not know about the fact; besides,
the movement of the hand showed in both cases a rare smoothness,
constituting a similarity; finally, the answers agreed in all points with
those obtained through Ms. J… and there wasn’t anything in the
language that was not at the level of the evoked spirit.
4th – News sent by Mr. D… about the remarkable case of a
farmer who had a vision and a revelation a few days before his
death.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spiritist spontaneous communications:
Three characters: Hamlet, Tartuffe and Don Juan, message
by Mr. A. Didier, signed by Gerard de Nerval.
Fantasy, through Mrs. Costel, signed by Alfred de Musset.
The trial, by Ms. Eugenie, signed by Leo X.
Evocation of the above mentioned farmer. He gives some explanations
about his visions. The spelling issues and the language
very similar to a country person constitute a remarkable fact.
Several questions addressed to St. Louis about issues related to this
evocation.
The Mediums’ Book
This book was announced long ago but its publication was postponed
due to the importance of the subject, to finally be released between
January 5th and 10th by Mr. Didier & Co. editors and booksellers, Rue
Quai des Augustins, 35 * . It is the complement of The Spirits’ Book and
contains the experimental part of Spiritism, as the first contains the philosophical
part.
In this book are the results of long experiences and laborious studies,
as we try to clarify all questions related to the practice of the manifestations.
It contains the theoretical explanations of all phenomena and the
conditions required for their occurrence, according to the spirits. The part
related to the exercise and development of the mediumship, however, was
the object of special attention from our side.
Experimental Spiritism is prone to many more difficulties than generally
thought and the hurdles that we find are innumerous. That is the reason
for so many deceptions from the part of those who get involved with
such practice without experience and without the required knowledge.
Our objective was to forearm against such hurdles that are not always free
from inconveniences by those who venture themselves through this new
terrain without caution. We could not have forgotten such a capital point
and as such we gave the subject the attention equivalent to its importance.
The inconveniences are almost always originated from the lightheartedness
with which such a serious issue is handled. The spirits, all
of them, are the souls of those who have already lived. Sooner or later
we will infallibly share their environment. Thus, every spiritist manifestation,
intelligent or not, has the objective of putting us in touch
with those very souls. Since we pay respect to their physical remains,
with even more reason we must respect the surviving intelligent being
who is the true individuality. When we transform the manifestations
into pastime games we fail them with the respect that perhaps we
ourselves may demand one day, and that never goes unpunished when
violated.
The initial moment of curiosity caused by these strange phenomena is
over; now that we know the source, let us avoid its profanation with inappropriate
jokes and let us strive to find in them the necessary teachings
that will ensure our future happiness. The field is really wide open and
the objective very important to deserve our full attention.
Up until now our efforts have been dedicated to drive Spiritism
through this serious avenue. We will be plentifully rewarded for our
care and vigilance if this new book can contribute to avoid having
Spiritism veered off from its providential objective by making it even
better understood.
This book, no doubt, will raise criticism from those who are displeased
by the severity of its principles, as from those who already accuse
us of creating a school of Spiritism, since they see things from another
point of view. If creating a school of this science is a way to find a valuable
and useful objective to humanity, we believe to have the right of feeling
flattered by the accusation. However, such a school does not require any
other leader besides the common sense of the masses and the wisdom of
the good spirits who created it, regardless. That is why we reject the honor
of having founded it; nonetheless we are happy for being under its flag;
aspiring the modest title as its promoter.
If a name is needed we will then write on its facade: School of Moral
and Philosophical Spiritism, and invite all those in need of hope and
consolation.
Allan Kardec
_________________________________________
* Equally found in the office of the The Spiritist Review, at Rue de Sainte-Ane, 59 –
passage Sainte-Ane, large volume, in-18, 500 pages, Paris 3.5 francs, by mail 4 francs.
“La Bibliographie Catholique” against Spiritism
Up until now Spiritism had not been seriously attacked. When certain
writers of periodicals in the press gave it an air of their attention, in
their leisure time, they did so to ridicule it. Whether it be about filling
out the space of a column, producing an article of a given number of lines,
regardless of the subject and as long as it fits the space properly. “What
can I say about it? Should I discuss this or that? That is what the editor of the
entertaining journal asks himself. No, not this: it is too serious. The other one
is something overly spoken about. Should I invent an authentic adventure of
high society or a popular one? Nothing comes to mind in those fifteen minutes
and the column with the scandal of the week is still empty. Ah! I had an idea!
I found the subject! I saw somewhere the title of a book talking about the spirits
and everywhere there are people foolish enough to take it seriously. What
are the spirits? I know nothing about it. But who cares! It must be funny. For
starters I don’t believe absolutely in spirits since I have never seen them and
even if I had seen them I would not have believed because that is impossible.
Hence, no man of wisdom may believe in such things. Either this is illogical
or I don’t know myself. Let us then talk about the spirits since they are in
fashion these days. This matter as any other will entertain our readers. The subject is very simple: There is no spirits; they cannot and must not exist, then
everyone who believes in them is mad. Now, time to get to work and embellish
this. Oh! My good spirit! How can I thank you for such inspiration! You
spare me a great embarrassment since I need this article for tomorrow and I
had nothing.”
Then comes a serious person and says: “One must not joke about
serious things; this is more serious than initially thought; nobody should
believe that this is something that disappears easily. Such belief is inherent
to humanity which has always believed in the marvelous at all
times, in the super natural, in the fantastic. Who would doubt that in
the XIX century, in this century of enlightenment and progress, even
after Voltaire had clearly demonstrated that the emptiness waits for us,
and after so many wise people had sought and not found the soul, who
would guess that people still believe in spirits; in turning tables; in witches
and wizards; in the power of Merlin, the enchanter; in the divining
rod; in Mademoiselle Lenormand, the fortune teller? Oh Humanity! Oh
Humanity! Where shall you go if I don’t come to help you and pull you
away from the swamp of superstition?
They unsuccessfully tried to kill the Spirits by ridicule. Far from
that, the contagious disease made unceasing progress; ridicule seems to
revive it and if it is not eliminated it may soon have all of humankind
infected. Since this method, usually so effective has become powerless,
it is now time for the scientists to get involved and stop it once and for
all.
Bantering is not the reason. We speak on behalf of science. Let us
demonstrate that human beings have been foolish in all epochs for believing
that there is a power above them, that they could not overpower
nature. Let us demonstrate to them that everything attributed to supernatural
forces can be explained by the simple laws of Physiology: that the
survival of the soul and its ability to communicate with those alive is an
illusion and that the belief in an afterlife is sheer madness. If people are
not convinced after digesting four volumes of good reasons, we can only
regret the fate of humanity that instead of progressing, quickly moves backwards towards the barbarism of the Middle Ages and shortly then to
its downfall.
Mr. Figuier should hide his face since he has so ostentatiously announced
his book, highly praised by the champions of materialism, and
which produced a result quite contrary to what he expected.
But here comes a new champion who asserts to crush Spiritism in another
way: it is Mr. Georges Gandy, editor of La Bibliographie Catholique,
who throws his hat into the ring, in the name of threatened religion. That
is a good one! Religion threatened by something that you call a utopia!
It means that you have so little faith in its strength that you suppose it is
vulnerable enough to be shaken by the ideas of a few dreamers. Do you
consider such an enemy so terrible to the point of attacking it with so
much rage and fury? Will you achieve better results than the others?
We doubt it since rage is a bad adviser. In case you are successful in
scaring a few feeble souls aren’t you afraid of arousing the curiosity of an
even larger number of other people? Consider the following: in a town
with a certain number of spiritists and a few private groups dealing with
the manifestations, a priest once gave a scathing sermon against what he
called the devil’s work, pretending that he alone went to speak at these
satanic meetings, whose members were all notoriously doomed to eternal
damnation. What happened next? On the very next day a good number
of your listeners started to seek those spiritist gatherings, wanting to hear
the devil, curious about what he could tell them, since you had spoken so
much about it that your listeners were no longer afraid. Well then, they
saw serious people in those meetings, respectable, educated, and praying
to God, by the way, something that they had not done since their first
communion; people believing in their souls, in its immortality, in future
penalties and rewards, working to better themselves; striving to practice
Christ’s moral, not saying anything bad of anybody, even of those who
project hate towards them. These people then understood that if the devil
was teaching these things the reason was that the devil had converted.
When they saw the treatment of their dead friends and relatives
with respect and reverence, and that they were given good advice and consolation, it was then impossible to believe that such gatherings were
offices of Satan, particularly considering that they did not see owls, black
cats, crocodiles, books of witchcraft, tripods, magic wands or any other
accessory of sorcery, not even an old woman with a long and twisted chin
and nose.
They also wanted to speak, one with his mother, the other with a dear
son, and when recognizing them, it seemed difficult to believe that the
mother and the son were devils. Happy for having the proof of their existence
and the certainty that they would meet again in a better world, they
asked themselves what was the objective of those who tried to scare them
away? This led them to reflections that they had never thought before.
The result was that they liked these places where they found consolation
better than the other ones that scared them to death.
That priest, as we have just seen, took the wrong path, leading us
to say: better to have an enemy than an unfit friend. Does Mr. Georges
Gandy hope to be happier? We reproduce below his text, literally, for the
enlightenment of our readers:
“At all great trying times of the Church and its future triumphs there
were always diabolical conspiracies where the actions of the demons
were visible and tangible. Sorcery and magic had never been so strong
in the heart of Paganism when Christianity began to spread all over
the world. Luther had dialogues with Satan unfolded into acts of
witchery and diabolic communications in Europe when the Church
was operating the great Catholic reform to triple its forces, and when
the new world welcomed it with a glorious destiny in an immense
space. In the XVIII century, on the eve of the day when the axe of the
executioners should repaint the Church with the martyrs’ blood, the
devil-idolatry flourished in the cemetery of Saint-Médard, around
the wands of Mesmer and the mirrors of Cagliostro. Today, in the
fight of Catholicism against all powers of hell, Satan’s conspiracy is
visibly a supporting philosophy. Hell wanted to consecrate the works
of violence and cunningness exercised for over four centuries, in the name of naturalism, promptly crowning it with a supreme imposture.
That is the whole secret of the so called Spiritist Doctrine, a pile
of absurd, contradictions, hypocrisy and blasphemies, as we will see
below, which is trying with its last deception, to glorify Christianity
only to shame it later on; to disperse it to later subtract it, affecting
the respect towards the divine savior and so as to remove from Earth
everything he had conceived with his blood, replacing his immortal
kingdom by the dictatorship of ungodly daydreams.”
“By bringing about the analysis of these strange pretensions that
we have not yet, we believe, sufficiently exposed and retorted, we ask
our readers to follow our journey a bit longer, through this diabolic
maze from which this sect expects to emerge victorious, after having
abolished the divine name forever, to which we will see it bow down
before.”
“Despite its ridicules, its revolting desecrations, its never ending
contradictions, Spiritism is a precious teaching to us. The madness
of hell had never paid such a dazzling tribute to our sacred religion.
God had never before condemned it with a greater sovereign power,
confirmed by these words of our divine Master: - Vos ex patre diabolo
estis.”
Such beginnings may give you an idea of what is still to come. The readers
who want to learn about the source of evangelical charity may have
the pleasure of reading Bibliography #3, September 1860, rue de Sèvres 31.
Still once more, why such a rage, such repulsion against a doctrine that,
as you say, is the work of Satan, and cannot prevail against the work of
God, unless you impiously admit that God is less powerful than Satan?
We have many doubts about this rosary of slander and that fever, that
profusion of epithets that Christ had never used against his greatest enemies,
to whom he begged for God’s mercy and not his vengeance, by
saying: - Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. We
doubt, we were saying, that such a language may be persuasive. Truth is calm and does not require deliriums, and with such rage that reveals your
own weakness. We confess that this singular policy of Satan is not much
understandable, glorifying Christianity and casting shame on it, spreading
it now to suppress it later. In our opinion this is not very smart and seems
like the farmer who did not want potatoes and so he plants potato seeds
all over the farm in order to destroy the species. When we accuse others
of committing sin by default reasoning, we must start with ourselves in
order to be logical.
Mr. Georges Gandy mortally attacks Spiritism by the fact that the
Gospel and Christianity support it, but in fact we don’t know the reason.
What would he then say if supported by Mohamed? Certainly much
less since a fact that must be mentioned is that Islam, Judaism and even
Buddhism are subjects of much less virulent attacks than the dissident
sects of Christianity. With certain people it is either everything or nothing.
There is one point above all that Mr. Gandy does not forgive in
Spiritism, which is that of not having proclaimed this absolute maxim: -
there is no salvation outside the Church, thus admitting that someone who
does good but is not with the Church may be targeted with the eternal
flames. Evidently such a doctrine could only have come from hell. His
ears burn particularly in the following passage:
“What does Spiritism want? It is an American import, initially protestant,
that had already triumphed – allow me to say so – upon all
fields of idolatry and heresy; such are its mundane titles. Would it
then be the case that truth and wisdom would come to us from the
grounds of classical superstition and religious madness?”
That certainly is a great offense. Had it been born in Rome would it then
be the voice of God; since it was born in a protestant country, it is the voice
of the devil. But what will you say when we have demonstrated – we will
do that one day – that Spiritism was present in Christian Rome well before
it was in the protestant America? What will you say about the fact that
there are more Catholic-Spiritists these days than Protestant-Spiritists?
The number of believers who believe nothing, who doubt everything,
even God, is considerable and grows in an alarming proportion.
Will it be through your intense loathing, your threats with hell, and
your choleric speeches that you will bring them back? No, since it is your
own violence that keeps them away. Should they be blamed for having
taken Christ’s charity and kindness seriously, as done with God’s infinite
benevolence? Now, when they hear those who pretend to speak in God’s
name throwing threats and calumnies they immediately doubt Christ,
God and everything else. Spiritism conveys words of peace and hope
to them and since they carry the burden of doubt and need consolation,
they are thrown into the arms of Spiritism because they prefer the
welcoming things rather than those who scare them away. Then they
believe in God, in Christ’s mission and his divine moral. In one word,
from incredulous and indifferent they become believers. That is what led
a respectable father of the Church to answer one of his penitents who
asked him about Spiritism: - Nothing happens beyond God’s will; God
allows these things in order to rekindle the extinguishing faith – Had this
father used another language he could perhaps have scared that person
away forever. You want Spiritism to be a sect, at any price, when in reality
it only aspires the title of a moral and philosophical science, respecting all
serious beliefs. Why then try to pass an idea of separation to those who
don’t think like that? If you reject those who Spiritism has redirected to
the belief in God; if you don’t offer them another perspective but hell,
you shall then be the ones responsible for a fissure that you have provoked.
St. Louis told us one day: - They mocked the turning tables; they
will never mock, however, the philosophy, the wisdom and charity that shines
out of the serious communications.
He was mistaken because he did not count on Mr. Gandy. The writers
often make fun of Spiritism and its manifestations, not thinking that one
day they could be the target of jokes from their successors. Nevertheless,
they always respected the moral part of the science. It was reserved to a
Catholic writer, a fact that we sincerely regret, of turning into ridiculeaccepted
maxims by using the most vulgar sense. He mentions a good number of passages from The Spirits’ Book. We will only mention a few
that give a good idea of his appreciation.
“– God prefers those who adore Him from the bottom of their heart
than those who do so externally”. The text from The Spirits’ Book
continues: “God prefers those who sincerely adore Him, doing good
and avoiding wickedness, to those who think to honor Him through
ceremonies that don’t make them better with respect to their fellow
human beings.”
Mr. Gandy admits the contrary but as a man of good faith he should
have cited the entire passage, instead of truncating it and changing its
meaning.
“- Every animal destruction that surpasses the limit of necessity is a
violation of God’s law, meaning that the moral principle that guides
pleasure is equally applied to hunting and killing.”
Precisely. It seems however that Mr. Gandy is a hunter and thinks that
God created the hunt to give people pleasure, instead of feeding them, by
the useless killing of innocent animals.
“Pleasures are bounded by nature: the limit of need. Excesses lead us
to satiation. - It is the moral of the virtuous Horace, one of the fathers
of Spiritism.
Since the author criticizes this maxim it seems that he sees no limit to
pleasures, something that is certainly not very religious.
“In order to be legitimate a property must be acquired without any
harm to the law of love and justice; - thus, someone who owns without
respecting the duties of charity that commands individual or
social reason, is a usurper of other people’s properties; according to
Spiritism we are living a true socialism”.
The text actually says: The only legitimate property is that acquired without
causing any loss to others. The law of love and justice forbids to do to others
what we don’t others do to us; hence it condemns every means of acquisition
that is contrary to that law. There is no “that commands individual or
social reason” in the text, it is a perfidious addition. We don’t believe that
someone may own something in detriment of justice, with a clean conscience.
Mr. Gandy should let us know the cases for which he considers
spoliation to be legitimate. Thankfully the courts don’t share his opinion.
“Indulgence awaits, outside of this life, the suicidal embraced by necessity
and who wanted to avoid shame on his children or family. As
a matter of fact, St. Louis, whose spiritist’ functions we will report
soon, tell us that there are excuses for the suicide for love. As for the
penalties of someone who commits suicide these are not fixed. What is
certain is that there is no way out of disappointment. In other words,
the person is trapped, as commonly said in this world.”
This passage is entirely adulterated by the requirements of Mr. Gandy’s
criticism. We would need to transcribe seven pages of the original to
reestablish the truth in this text. With such a system it would be easy
to ridicule the most beautiful pages of our best writers. It seems that
Mr. Gandy does not admit gradation in the faults or in the penalties
beyond the grave. We believe that God is just and hope that Mr. Gandy
may never need to claim the benefit of attenuating circumstances in his
favor.
“Death penalty and slavery were, are and will be contrary to the laws
of nature. Men and women are equal before God and must be equal
before men”. Would it be the errant soul of some terrified SaintSimonist
looking for a free woman, making this spicy revelation to
Spiritism?”
Thus, death penalty, slavery and the submission of women that tends to
be abolished by civilization are intuitions that Spiritism has no right to condemn. Oh fortunate medieval times, why have you gone and why
haven’t you come back? Where are you oh! Burning stakes that could have
saved us from the spiritists?
Here is one of the most benign passages: “Spiritism cannot deny such a
salad of contradictions, absurd and madness that belongs to no philosophy or
language. If God allows such impious manifestations it is for the fact that God
gives the devil, as taught by the Church, the power of deceiving those who call
him, violating his law.” The devil then comes handy since he unwillingly
makes us love God.
“As for the truth, it is brought to us by the Church. It tells us through
the sacred books that the angel of darkness transforms into an angel of
light and that it is necessary to refuse even the testimony of an archangel,
if contrary to the doctrine of Christ, from which its infallible
authority is true depositary. As a matter of fact, the Church has the
safe and evident means to distinguish between the diabolic prestige
and the divine manifestations.”
It is really true that one should refuse even the testimony of an archangel
if that is contrary to the doctrine of Christ. However, what is it that such
a doctrine tells us and that Jesus preached by words and examples?
• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children
of God;
• Anyone who is angry with a brother or a sister will be subjected to
judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca’, is
answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be
in danger of the fire of hell.
• But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;
for He causes his sun to rise upon evil and good, and sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who
love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors
do the same? If you greet only your brothers and sisters, what
more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the
same? Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father
is perfect.
• In everything do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Charity is thus the fundamental principle of Christ’s doctrine. From
that we conclude that every word and every action contrary to charity
cannot be, as we say with perfect truth, inspired by Satan, even if it had
taken the form of an archangel. That is why Spiritism says: Without charity
there is no salvation.
Regarding the same subject we refer our readers to our responses in the
Univers, issues May and July 1859, and to the Gazette de Lyon, October
1860. As a refutation to Mr. Gandy we also recommend Letter of a
Catholic about Spiritism, by Dr. Grand. If the author of that brochure * is condemned to be in hell, there will be many others there and we will
see, strangely enough, those who preach love for all, while heaven will be
reserved for those who lash out in abomination and curses. This would be
a singular misinterpretation of Jesus’ words. Due to lack of space we will
provide our answer to Mr. Deschanel, from the Journal des Débats, in the
next issue of our Review.
____________________________________
* Large, in-18, price 1 franc; by mail 1.15 francs. It can be found at the office of the Spiritist
Review and at Palais-Royal, Ledoyen bookstore.
Letter about Incredulity - Part I
One of our colleagues, Mr. Canu, formerly a devout materialist who
learned from Spiritism to have a healthier appreciation of things,
accused of having been the propagator of doctrines that he now considers
subversive of the social order. Aiming at the reparation of what he considers
to be his fault, and so as to enlighten those who he had mislead,
he wrote a letter to one of his friends, requesting our advice. The letter
seemed so attuned to his intentions that we decided to request his permission
to have it published here, something that will certainly please our
readers.
Instead of discussing the issue of Spiritism up front, which would
have been repelled by those who don’t admit the soul as a principle, and
particularly instead of placing before their eyes the strange phenomena
that they could deny or attribute to vulgar causes, he goes back to the origin.
He rightly tries to make them spiritualists before spiritists. He arrives
at the spiritist idea as a consequence through a perfectly logical train of
thoughts. This is obviously the most rational path. The scope of this letter
obliged us to share it in this publication.
“Paris, November 10th, 1860
My dear friend,
You would like to receive a long letter about Spiritism. I will try
to satisfy your wishes the best I can, while I await the publication of
an important book about the subject that must be published towards
the end of the year. I am forced to start by some general considerations
for which it is necessary to refer back to the origin of humankind. This
will make my letter a little bit longer but it is necessary for the understanding
of the subject. People commonly say: Everything perishes
with time! Yes, time consumes everything but generally a different
meaning is also given to this expression. Time consumes everything
but it is only matter that ends. Everything is consumed in the sense
that everything moves forward and follows its natural course, but not
a blind and aimless course, and yet it must never end. Motion is the
great physical as well as moral law of the universe, and the objective
of all that movement is the betterment; it is an active, incessant and
universal work; it is what we call progress.
Everything is submitted to such a law, with the exception of God.
God is its author; the creature is the instrument and object of application
of the law. Creation consists of two distinct natures: the material
and the intellectual nature. The latter is the active instrument; the
former is the passive instrument.
These two instruments complement each other reciprocally,
that is, one without the other would be totally useless. Without
the intellectual nature, or the intelligent and active spirit, the
material nature, that is, the unintelligent and inert matter would
be perfectly useless, since it could not do anything on its own.
Without the inert matter the same would happen to the intelligent
spirit. Even the most perfect instrument, would be the same as
any other, if there was no one to use it. The most skillful worker,
the top notch scientist, would be as impotent as the most perfect
idiot, if they did not have instruments to develop their science and
demonstrate it.
Here is the place and time to note that the material instrument
is not only the carpenter’s planer, the sculptor’s chisel, the painter’s
palette, the surgeon’s scalpel, the astronomer’s compass and telescope:
it also consists on the hand, tongue, eyes, and brain, in short, in
the union of the material organs necessary to the manifestation of
thought, thus implying the denomination of passive instrument to the
matter upon which the intelligence, properly speaking, works. That is
how a table, a house, a picture, considered in their forming elements,
are not less instruments than the saw, the planer, the ruler, the trowel,
the paint brush which has products on it; for the hand and eyes to
direct them; finally, the brain which presides over the action. Now,
all that, including the brain, was the complex instrumentation used
by the intelligence to manifest its thoughts, its will, as in producing a
form, or a table, or a house, or a painting, etc.
Inert by nature and formless in its essence, matter only acquires
useful property by the form given to it, which led a renowned physiologist
to say that the form was more necessary than matter, a somewhat
paradox proposition, but demonstrates the important role played by
the form in the modifications of matter. It is according to this law
that God, if I can say so, incessantly created and modified the worlds
and their inhabiting creatures, according to the forms that are more
adequate to His designs following the universal harmony. It is always
according to that law that the intelligent creatures concur to the
continuous transformation of matter, incessantly acting upon it like
God but having a secondary role; each level of that continuous transformation
is one step towards progress, simultaneously to the manifestation
of the intelligence that leads to such transformation. That is
how everything is always in a progressive movement; that the mission
of the intelligent beings is to drive that movement towards progress,
sometimes unknowingly; that the role of the material creature is to
obey such movement and manifest the progress of the intelligent being;
that creation, considered in whole or in parts, incessantly realizes
God’s designs.
Without leaving our planet, how many intelligent creatures accomplish
an unsuspecting mission! From my side, I confess that not
long ago I was among those. I would not feel embarrassed at all for
dropping a few words here about my own story. Please forgive this
short digression that may perhaps carry a useful side.
Raised in the school of the Catholic dogma, only much later
having developed the taste for reflection and analysis, I was a keen
believer for a long time; you certainly have not forgotten that. You
know, however, that later on the contrary excess dragged me down.
From the denial of certain principles that my personal reason could
not accept, I reached the most absolute denial. The dogma of eternal
punishment in particular, outraged me. I could not reconcile
the idea of a God that was said to be infinitely merciful with the
perpetual punishment of a transient fault. The picture of hell, its
flames, the material tortures, it all seemed ridiculous and more like
a parody of Tartarus of the Pagans. I recalled some impressions from
my childhood and remembered that during my first communion we
were told that one should not pray for the damned because it would
not do them any good; whoever did not have faith was doomed to the
flames; that one single doubt about the infallibility of the Church
was enough to be damned; that for God our good deeds were not
enough to save us because faith was one of the most elevated human
actions.
That doctrine made me unforgiving and hardened my heart.
I used to mistrust people and the simplest sin would make me see
someone condemned, and that person would be someone from whom
I should stay away, as someone does with a plague, to whom I would
then refuse a glass of water, given my indignation, telling myself that
one day God would refuse that person even more than I had just
done. If they could still burn people at the stake, I would gladly throw
in the fire all of those whose faith was not orthodox enough, even if
that person was my own father. Hence, given my state of mind, I
could not love God, I was afraid.
Later and following a large number of events that would take too
long to enumerate, I had my eyes opened, rejecting the dogmas that
did not fit my reason, because I had never been taught to place moral
above exterior form. From the religious fanaticism I fell into the absolute
incredulity, like so many other childhood friends of mine.
I will not get into the details that will take us to off topic. I will
only add that after having lost for fifteen years the sweet illusion
about the existence of an infinitely good, powerful and wise God;
about the existence and immortality of the soul, I finally found it
again, not an illusion, but a certainty as absolute as the belief in my
own existence, and that is what I write about to you now. That is,
my friend, the greatest event of our time, the greatest moment that
we can witness in our day: the material proof of the existence and
immortality of the soul. Let us return to that fact.
Nevertheless, to make you understand Spiritism, let us go back to
the origins of humankind, a theme that will not take us long.
It is evident that the planets that populate the vastness were not
uniquely made as a means of decoration. Besides the pleasantries,
they also have utility: produce and feed the material beings, docile instruments
appropriate to this infinite multitude of intelligent beings
that populate space and are definitely the masterpiece, or better, the
purpose of creation, since they are the only ones capable of knowing,
admiring and adoring the author. Each and every one of the globes
scattered in space had their beginning, regarding the formation, more
or less long ago. As for the age of the material which it is composed of,
it is a secret that is irrelevant to us now, since the form is the object
of our concern. In fact, we don’t care if matter is eternal, or just created
before the formation of the globe, or even contemporary to that
formation. What one needs to know is that the globe was created to
be inhabited. It is not perhaps useless to add that such formation does
not take place in a day, as found in the Scriptures; that a planet cannot
come out of nothing and be covered in forests, fields and inhabitants;
like Minerva born fully matured with a suit of armor from the head of Jupiter. No. God acts infallibly but slowly. Everything follows
a slow and progressive law, not because God hesitates or requires to
move slowly, but because his laws are such and unchangeable. As a
matter of fact, what we as transient human creatures call slowness is
not slow to God for whom time does not exist.
Now, let us take a forming globe or an already existing one if
you like. Many centuries or perhaps thousands of centuries must pass
before it is inhabitable. However, the moment comes. After multiple
and successive changes on its surface, it begins to be covered by vegetation
– I speak of Earth and don’t pretend to speak of other globes but
by analogy, whose evident objective is the same, and whose phases
may change from one to the next. Side by side with the vegetation
comes animal life, one and the other in their utmost simplicity, these
two branches of organic life support one another, mutually fertilizing
and feeding one another, simultaneously elaborating the inorganic
matter in order to make it gradually more adequate to the formation
of more elaborated creatures, up until the time when it can produce
and sustain the body capable of providing housing and operating as
an instrument to the being by excellence, that is, the intellectual creature
that will use such a body and that waits for its occurrence and
without which that intelligence could not advance. That is when we
get to humankind! How was the human being formed? That is not
the issue. The human being was formed according to the great law of
formation of the living creatures, and that is all. Just because it is not
known, it does not mean that such a law does not exist. How were the
first individuals of every species of plant formed? How were the first
individuals of each species of animals formed? Each one was formed
in their own way, but following the same law. What is certain is
that God had no need to become a potter or get His hands dirty in
the mud in order to create man, or to remove a man’s rib to create a
woman. Such apparently absurd and ridiculous fables may well be
an ingenious image hiding a meaning that can perhaps be reached by
more insightful minds than mine. Since I don’t understand that, I stop here. Thus, here is the physical human being, inhabiting Earth
and inhabited himself by an immaterial being, to which he serves as
an instrument. Incapable of anything on its own, as matter is generally
incapable, he cannot become capable but through the intelligence
that animates him; that very intelligence, however, is imperfect as
any other creature or anything else but God, that intelligence needs
perfecting and it is for that perfecting that a body was given, since the
spirit could not manifest without matter, and consequently could not
improve, to establish itself and finally advance.
From a collective standpoint, humanity is like the individual:
ignorant at the infancy, becoming enlightened with time. That is
naturally explained by the actual state of imperfection of the spirits
whose advancement depends on that humanity. However, considered
individually, the spirit cannot achieve the required sum of progress
in one existence only. That is why a more or less large number
of corporeal existences are needed, according to the way that each
one of those existences are lived. The more the spirit works its own
betterment on each existence, the lesser the number of required existences
to come. As each corporeal existence is a trial, an atonement,
a true purgatory, it is in the spirit’s own interest to advance as fast
as possible, to become subject to the lesser possible number of new
existences, considering that the spirit cannot move backwards. Each
level of achieved progress is definitely granted and cannot be taken
from the spirit. According to this now demonstrated principle, it
becomes evident that the faster the spirit advances, the sooner the
objective is reached. As a consequence from the preceding, each one
of us today is not in their first corporeal existence – and perhaps still
very far away from the last one – because our primitive existences
must have taken place on planets inferior to Earth where we arrived
when our spirit had achieved a level of advancement compatible
with this globe. In the same way we shall move on to superior worlds
as we advance, worlds much more advanced than Earth on every
aspect, step by step, always to a better condition. Before we leave a world, as it seems, we go through several existences whose number is
not limited but submitted to the actual progress that we may have
achieved there.
I can foresee an objection coming out of your lips. All that, you
will say, can be true but since I cannot remember anything, like everybody
else, everything that might have happened in our prior existences
is the same as if it had not happened. If that is the case in each
new existence, then to my spirit it is irrelevant to be immortal or to
die with the body, since it does not have any awareness of its own
identity during life.
In fact, it would be the same but that is not the case. We don’t
lose the memory of the past but only temporarily during this corporeal
life; we recover the memory with death, that is, when the spirit wakes
up in its true existence, the spiritual life, an effect similar to the one
that the sleep has on the body.
What happens to the soul of the dead while waiting for a new
incarnation?
Those who don’t leave Earth remain in the so called errant state
on its surface. As spirits they can certainly go where they please or, at
least, where they can, according to their progress, but in general they
don’t stay away from the living particularly from those they loved,
unless imposed by a duty of service somewhere else. We are then surrounded
by a multitude of spirits, all the time, known and unknown
to us, friends and foes, who see, observe and hear us; some of them
share our sufferings as well as our happiness, while others suffer with
our pleasures or enjoy our pains, and others still are indifferent to
everything, exactly as it happens on Earth among the mortal beings,
whose affections, antipathies, vices and virtues are kept in the other
world. The difference is that the good ones enjoy a happy state that
is unknown to us on Earth, and that is understandable since they no onger have material needs to satisfy or material obstacles to overtake
them. If they lived well, that is, if they have nothing or almost
nothing to regret from their last corporeal life, they peacefully enjoy
the testimony of their conscience and their good deeds. If they were
malicious, nasty, and considering that in the spiritual world they
are in the open and cannot dissimulate anything under a material
covering like we do here, they then suffer the shame of being known
and uncovered; they suffer with the presence of those who they have
offended, or neglected or oppressed, as well as with the impossibility
of avoiding their eyes. Finally, they suffer the effects of a corroding
remorse until regret may bring them some relief – it happens sooner
or later – or when a new incarnation may subtract them from one’s
own eyes but not from the spirits’ eyes, by momentarily removing the
awareness of his identity. Then, losing the memory of the past, the
spirits feel relieved. That is when a new trial begins. If they are lucky
to have advanced when leaving this new life, they enjoy the merit
and some progress is granted; if they don’t improve, they then find the
same torment again, until they finally repent or take advantage of a
new existence.
There is another kind of suffering: the one experienced by the
worst and more perverse spirits. Inaccessible to shame or remorse, they
don’t feel the torments. Their sufferings, however, are more vivid
because they are only excited by evilness but unable to realize it. They
suffer by the envy of seeing others happier or better than themselves,
simultaneously suffering by the hatred towards those who they can no
longer reach and the incapacity of satisfying their bad inclinations.
Oh! Those suffer more, as I told you, but that will only last until they
decide to improve. Or, put differently, up until the day they become
better. They often don’t foresee such a horizon. They are so bad, so
blind by evilness that they become oblivious to a better state of things;
as a consequence, they cannot see that their suffering may one day
end, a fact that makes them more obstinate in evil, further aggravating
their sufferings.
However, since they cannot escape indefinitely the common fate
reserved by God to every creature, without exception, there will
be a time when they will be required to follow the common path.
Sometimes it is closer than thought just by observing their evilness.
There have been some, who have converted suddenly, and their suffering
stopped; however, they still have tough trials to face in their
next existence on Earth. They need to purify, atoning their own
faults, and that is definitely more than fair. Nevertheless, they no
longer have fear of losing their accomplished progress, since they cannot
go backwards.
There you have it my friend, in short and as clear as I could
make it, a presentation of the spiritist philosophy, as it was possible
for me to deliver in a letter. You will find a better explanation and
the most thorough development of these ideas in The Spirits’ Book, the
source which made me what I am today.
Let us now move on to more practical terms.”
(Conclusion in the next issue)
The Rapping Spirit of Aube
One of our subscribers sent us some very interesting details about
manifestations that have occurred and still do in a town located in
the Aube region. We will hide the name of the person involved to protect
their anonymity in order to avoid being surrounded by flocks of curious
visitors who might destroy his peace of mind. These noisy manifestations
have already attracted more than an inconvenience; moreover, our correspondent
tells us what he has seen and we do know him well enough
to trust his testimony. The reader will find below the most interesting
passages of his report:
“Four years ago (in 1856), in the town where I live, at the house of
Mr. R… there were manifestations that up to a certain degree were
similar to those of Bergzabern. At that time I did not know that
gentleman; it was only later that we became acquainted and that is
how I learned about the facts that had already occurred. The manifestations
had stopped long ago and Mr. R… thought that he was
free from them when all of a sudden they started again, the same as
before. I was then able to witness them for several consecutive days. I
will tell you what I saw with my own eyes.”
“The person who is the target of these manifestations is Mr.
R’s…sixteen year old son, who was therefore only twelve when they occurred for the first time. The boy is mentally challenged; he cannot
read or write and rarely leaves his home. As for the manifestations
that occurred before my eyes, with the exception of the rocking bed
and the magnetic levitation, the spirit more or less reproduced everything
that happened in Bergzabern: the knocks and scratches were
the same; he whistled, imitating the sound of a tree being sawed, and
threw pieces of charcoal that would come from who knows where
into the bedroom, since there was no coal to be found anywhere else
in the house. The phenomenon starts when the boy lies down and
begins to fall asleep. During his sleep, he speaks to a spirit with authority,
assuming the perfect voice of command of a superior officer,
despite the fact that he had never watched any military exercises.
He then simulates a combat, commands the maneuvers, conquering
victoriously and believing that he has risen to the rank of general on
the battlefield. When he commands the spirit to knock a few times
it sometimes happens that the spirit knocks more than requested.
The boy then asks: - How do you intend to remove the additional
knocks? The spirit then starts to scratch, as if erasing something.
When the boy commands the spirit, he seems very agitated and sometimes
screams so much that his voice trails off into a sort of groaning
sound. Following the command, the spirit then knocks every French
or foreign military march, even Chinese ones. I could not attest their
accuracy since I don’t know them. But the boy often said: - That is
not right. Start all over again. And the spirit obeyed. I must say and
in-passing that the boy sounds really rude during his sleep and when
commanding.”
“One evening I was watching these things; Mr. R’s…son was
in great agitation for about five hours. I tried to calm him down
through magnetic passes. He soon became furious and made a mess
in his bed. The next day he lied down on my arrival and as usual he
soon fell asleep. The knocks and raps began again. He suddenly ordered
the spirit: - Come here. I will make you sleep. And to our great
surprise he magnetized the spirit, despite his resistance and refusal, as we gathered from the conversation that followed. He then woke the
spirit up, demagnetizing him like a professional magnetizer would
have done. I then noticed that he seemed to have retrieved too much
magnetic fluid, kind of throwing it towards me, causing me harm.
When he woke up he had no memory of the event.”
“Far from calm, the facts became more serious and more afflictive
each day in a distressing manner by the exasperation of the
spirit, who is certainly afraid of losing his dominance upon the boy.
I wanted to ask his name and background, but only got lies and
blasphemies as an answer. I must let you know at this point that the
spirit speaks through the boy’s mouth, who serves him as a speaking
medium. I unsuccessfully tried to excite good feelings in him through
good words. He answered that the prayers were nothing to him; that
he tried to approach God only finding ice and fog. He calls me a
bigot and whenever I pray in silence I notice that he gets angry and
raps with double intensity. He brings heavy objects every day, iron,
copper, etc. When I ask him where he finds them he says that he takes
them from dishonest people. If I preach morality to him, he becomes
furious. One evening he said that if I continued to come, he would
break everything and that he would not leave before Easter. He then
spat on my face. Once asked about the reason why he was attached
to the young Mr. R… in such a way he said: - if it was not him it
would be someone else. The father himself is not free from attacks
of that malevolent spirit. He is often interrupted in his work by the
rapping spirit, who pulls his clothes and pinches him to the point of
bleeding. I did what was possible but I am out of resources. Besides,
it is very difficult to obtain good results considering that Mr. and
Mrs. R… don’t help due to their inconsistent faith, despite their
desire to get rid of the spirit and the true losses and prejudices they
suffer due to their son.”
Several details were omitted for they would only reinforce the report.
However, we showed enough to demonstrate that one can say that like certain wrongdoers, this spirit is of the worse kind. We addressed the following
questions to St. Louis in the session of the Society on November
9th:
1. Could you kindly tell us something about the spirit that obsesses
the young R…? – A. The boy’s intelligence is of the weakest kind
and when the spirit takes over he becomes completely hallucinated,
and even more so when his body is deeply asleep. Thus,
reason has no domain over his brain that is dominated by this
tempestuous spirit.
2. Can a relatively superior spirit exert a magnetic action and paralyze
his faculties? – A. A good spirit can only act upon another
morally, not physically. In order to paralyze through the magnetic
fluid it is necessary to use matter and the spirit is not matter like
a human being.
3. How come the young R… pretends to magnetize and lead the
spirit to sleep? – A. He believes it and the spirit gives him that
illusion.
4. The father wants to know if there is any means of getting rid of
that unwelcome guest; if his son will remain under this influence
for a long time... – A. When the young man is awake one must
evoke the good spirits, together with him, so that he can be in
touch with them and through that he can keep the bad spirits
who obsess him in his sleep away.
5. Could we help from here, evoking that spirit in order to moralize
him, or perhaps the spirit of the boy himself? – A. It might not
be possible at the moment. They are both too much materialized.
It is necessary to act directly upon the body of the living one,
through the presence of good spirits who will come to him.
6. We don’t understand your response very well. – A. I said that it
is necessary to request the support of the good spirits who will
help to make the boy less accessible to the impressions of the bad
spirit.
7. What can we do for him? – A. The bad spirit that obsesses him
will not let him go easily, since he is not strongly pushed away by
anyone. Your prayers and evocations are a weak weapon against
him. It would be necessary to act physically on the person that
is tormented by him. You can pray since it is always beneficial.
You will not succeed, however, if not supported by those directly
involved in the case, the father and mother. They unfortunately
don’t have the faith in God that multiplies their strength a hundred
times, and God does not hear but those who address Him
with faith. Thus, they cannot complain about an evil against
which they do nothing to eliminate.
8. How can we win over the subjection of this young man to the
empire of such an evil spirit, with the authority that the boy has
over the spirit, once it seems that he commands and the spirit
obeys? – A. The spirit of that young man is not very advanced
spiritually but it is more advanced than you think in terms of
intelligence. He abused that intelligence in other existences, not
directing it to a moral objective, but on the contrary to ambitious
objectives. He is facing punishment now in a body that does
not allow free access to his intelligence and the bad spirit takes
advantage of such weakness. He allows to be driven in questions
of minor importance because he knows that the boy is incapable
of commanding serious things. He gets a kick out of that. Earth
has swarms of spirits like this, punished in human bodies. That is
why there are so many diseases of all kinds.
OBSERVATION: The observation of the facts confirms the explanation.
During the sleep the boy shows intelligence incontestably
superior to that in his normal state, demonstrating a previous
development, but reduced to a latent state in the rough covering
of the body. It is only at the times of emancipation of the soul in
which there isn’t much influence of matter that his intelligence
expands, in which he also exerts authority upon the creature that subjugates him. However, returning to his waking state his faculties
are annihilated by the limited body that compresses them.
Isn’t that a moral teaching of practical reach?
We thought of evoking the spirit but none of the mediums present
at the meeting showed interest to serve as interpreter. Ms.
Eugenie who also showed disgust, suddenly took the pencil and
in an involuntary movement wrote:
1. You don’t want it? Ah! You will write. Oh you think that I will
not dominate you? Well, then! I am here but don’t be so scared. I
will make you feel my force.
NOTE: The spirit then made the medium swing a strong punch
on the table, breaking several pencils.
2. Since you are here, tell us why you have attached yourself to Mr.
R... – A. Do you really believe that I would have to confide in
you! For starters, know that I have a great need to torment somebody.
A medium who can think would reject me. I attach myself
to an idiot who opposes no resistance.
3. Note: Someone thought that despite the cowardly act the spirit is
still intelligent. He then answers without having the question directly
asked to him: – A. A little bit. I am not as silly as you think.
4. What did you do when alive? – A. I didn’t do much. A man that
did more evil things than good, for what he is punished even more.
5. Considering that you are punished for having practiced bad things,
you must understand the need to do good. Don’t you want to improve?
– A. If you wanted to help me I would waste less time.
6. We don’t ask more than that, but it is necessary that you show the
will. Pray with us. This will help you.
(Here the spirit answers with blasphemy)
7. That is it! We will hear no more. We hoped that we could awake
some good feelings in you. That is why we called you. However,
since you respond to our benevolence with rude words, you
might as well leave. – A. Ah your charity ends here! Just because
I was able to resist a little I can see that your charity ends soon.
It is because you are not much better than I am. Yes, you could
enlighten me more than you think if you behaved accordingly,
to begin with, in the interest of this suffering idiot, in his father’s
interest who is scared of me too and in my own, if that pleases
you.
8. Tell us your name so that we can call you. – A. Why bother with
my name! Call me the spirit of the young idiot, if you like.
9. If we wanted to stop you it was for the fact that you used blasphemy.
– A. Ah! Ah! You were shocked. To know what is in the
mud you have to move it.
10. Someone said: - This image is compatible with the spirit. It is
despicable. – A. Would you like poetry, Sir? To get to know the
rose’s perfume one needs to smell it.
11. Since you said that we could be of some help, one of the participants
is offering to instruct you. Would you like to attend his
evocations? – A. I want to see if it is convenient first. (After a few
moments of reflection he adds: ) Yes; I will.
12. Why would Mr. R’s… son get mad when Mr. L… wanted to
magnetize him? – A. It was not him that got mad but me.
13. Why? – A. I have no power over that man, who is above me, that
is why I cannot stand him. He wants to take my domain away
from me and I cannot accept that.
14. You must see happier spirits around you. Do you know why? – A.
Yes, I do. They are better than I am.
15. Would you then understand that if instead of doing bad things
you did good ones you could also be happier like them? – A. I
wanted nothing more than that but it is difficult to be good.
16. Perhaps difficult for you but not impossible. Do you understand
that prayer can have a great influence upon your improvement? –
A. I don’t say no. I will think about that. Call me again.
OBSERVATION: As seen above, the spirit did not deny his character.
However, he seemed less unwilling towards the end, and that is a proof
that he is not entirely impervious to reason. There is remedy for him but
to have him entirely dominated he needs the support of people who are
not helping at this moment. This should be a lesson to those who may
be going through similar situations. There is no doubt that this is a very
bad spirit, belonging to the dregs of the spiritual world. One can say that
he is brutally bad but that there are more resources against spirits in that
category than to the hypocrites. There is no doubt that they are much
less dangerous than the fascinating spirits, with the support of a certain
amount of intelligence and a false appearance of virtue, they know how
to inspire a blind confidence in certain people, a confidence that sooner
or later will victimize them, since those spirits never act for the good of
anybody. They always have a second intention.
The result of The Mediums’ Book – so we hope – will be to guard us
against their suggestions, something that certainly will not please them.
As it can be seen, however, we are as much affected by their bad influence
as we are from that of incarnated spirits, which they can incite against us.
The bad spirits, as much as men, do not see with pleasure those who, upon
unmasking their wickedness, deprives them of the means to harm.
Spontaneous Teaching of the Spirits
The Three Characters (Medium Alfred Didier)There are three eternal characters in the world. The great writers depicted them as they were in their times, correctly guessing that they would always exist. These are the characters: first it is Hamlet, who tells himself in a monologue: to be or not to be, that is the question; then comes Tartuffe who moans his prayers while thinking of evil things; finally there is Don Juan, that tells everyone: I believe nothing. Molière alone found these two characters. He stigmatized Tartuffe and chastised Don Juan.
Man remains in doubt like Hamlet without the truth, without conscience like Tartuffe and without a heart like Don Juan. Hamlet doubts, it is true, but he seeks, he is unhappy, disbelief bothers him, his kindest illusions vanish, and the ideal and the truth that he seeks fall into the great abyss, and like Ophelia it remains lost forever. He then becomes mad and dies in desperation. God will forgive him though, because he had a heart, loved and it was the world that took away what he wanted to keep.
These two characters are atrocious; they are selfish and hypocritical, each in their own way. Tartuffe wears the mask of virtue, making him hateful. Don Juan believes nothing, not even in God.
Have you ever had the impression of seeing in that famous symbol of Don Juan and in the statue of the Commander, the skepticism before the turning tables; the corrupted human spirit before the most brutal manifestation? Up until now the world has only seen a human figure in them. Don’t you think that you should see something more? That the incomparable genius of Molière showed common sense in his work with respect to spiritual things as he always had with respect to human faults?
Gérard de Nerval
Man remains in doubt like Hamlet without the truth, without conscience like Tartuffe and without a heart like Don Juan. Hamlet doubts, it is true, but he seeks, he is unhappy, disbelief bothers him, his kindest illusions vanish, and the ideal and the truth that he seeks fall into the great abyss, and like Ophelia it remains lost forever. He then becomes mad and dies in desperation. God will forgive him though, because he had a heart, loved and it was the world that took away what he wanted to keep.
These two characters are atrocious; they are selfish and hypocritical, each in their own way. Tartuffe wears the mask of virtue, making him hateful. Don Juan believes nothing, not even in God.
Have you ever had the impression of seeing in that famous symbol of Don Juan and in the statue of the Commander, the skepticism before the turning tables; the corrupted human spirit before the most brutal manifestation? Up until now the world has only seen a human figure in them. Don’t you think that you should see something more? That the incomparable genius of Molière showed common sense in his work with respect to spiritual things as he always had with respect to human faults?
Gérard de Nerval
Cazotte (Medium Alfred Didier)
It is curious to see the formation of a group of people of good faith, amidst materialism, propagating Spiritism. Yes, it is in the deepest darkness that God sheds light and it is at that moment when we forget, when He shows us best; like the sublime thief mentioned in the Gospel, coming to judge the world when least expected. But God does not come to you to surprise you. On the contrary, He comes to warn you that the great surprise that takes people at their time of death must be dismal or happy.
God sent me to the middle of a corrupt society. Thanks to the clairvoyance, some of those revelations that seemed so marvelous in my time are perceived as natural today. All those memories are like dreams to me and – thank God – the awakening was not painful. Spiritism was born or resurrected in your time; magnetism comes from mine. You must believe that the great revelations precede the great exclamations.
The author of The Devil in Love reminds you that he has already had the honor of speaking with you and would be happy to continue that friendly relationship.
Cazotte
In the following session the questions below were addressed to the spirit of Cazotte:
• You kindly told us last time, when you spontaneously came to us, that you would return. We take the opportunity to address some questions to you, if you are alright with that.
1. The story of the famous dinner in which you predicted the fate of every guest, is that entirely true? – A. It is true in the sense that there was a prediction but carried out over several dinners, in which I made fun of my dear guests through sinister revelations.
2. We know the effect of second sight (remote viewing) and we would understand that you were able to see remote things that were happening at that point in time, given the faculty you had. How could you have seen future things that had not happened yet, and see them accurately? Can you also tell us how such accurate details were given to you? Did you simply speak out of inspiration, not seeing anything, or you could see the pictures of the events, like an image presented to you? Kindly describe that the best you can for our instruction. – A. The human being has a moral instinct in his reason that drives him to predict certain events. It is true that I was endowed by great clairvoyance, but not always human, regarding the events that would take place. Would you believe that with common sense or with good judgment of earthly things, you can anticipate years ahead of time certain circumstances? No. Added to my natural wisdom, there was a combination of a supernatural skill: second sight. When I revealed to those around me the terrible events that were supposed to happen I evidently spoke as a man of logic and wisdom; however, when I saw small details of those events, vague and generic, when I noticed this or that victim, I then spoke not only as a skilled man but as someone inspired.
3. Regardless of this, have you had other examples of predictions during your life? – A. Yes. They were all more or less about the same subject. Nevertheless, I studied the occult sciences as a pastime, and got involved with magnetism.
4. Has such a predictive faculty followed you in the spiritual word, that is, after your death can you still foresee certain events? – A. Yes. That gift remained but much more purified.
OBSERVATION: One could see here a contradiction with the principle that opposes the revelation of the future. In fact, the future is hidden from us as the result of a very wise law from the Providence, since such knowledge would harm our free-will, leading us to neglect the present by the future. Furthermore, given our position, we could hinder certain events that are necessary to the general order. However, when such communication may impel us to facilitate the realization of something, God then allows its revelation, within the limits designated by his wisdom.
God sent me to the middle of a corrupt society. Thanks to the clairvoyance, some of those revelations that seemed so marvelous in my time are perceived as natural today. All those memories are like dreams to me and – thank God – the awakening was not painful. Spiritism was born or resurrected in your time; magnetism comes from mine. You must believe that the great revelations precede the great exclamations.
The author of The Devil in Love reminds you that he has already had the honor of speaking with you and would be happy to continue that friendly relationship.
Cazotte
In the following session the questions below were addressed to the spirit of Cazotte:
• You kindly told us last time, when you spontaneously came to us, that you would return. We take the opportunity to address some questions to you, if you are alright with that.
1. The story of the famous dinner in which you predicted the fate of every guest, is that entirely true? – A. It is true in the sense that there was a prediction but carried out over several dinners, in which I made fun of my dear guests through sinister revelations.
2. We know the effect of second sight (remote viewing) and we would understand that you were able to see remote things that were happening at that point in time, given the faculty you had. How could you have seen future things that had not happened yet, and see them accurately? Can you also tell us how such accurate details were given to you? Did you simply speak out of inspiration, not seeing anything, or you could see the pictures of the events, like an image presented to you? Kindly describe that the best you can for our instruction. – A. The human being has a moral instinct in his reason that drives him to predict certain events. It is true that I was endowed by great clairvoyance, but not always human, regarding the events that would take place. Would you believe that with common sense or with good judgment of earthly things, you can anticipate years ahead of time certain circumstances? No. Added to my natural wisdom, there was a combination of a supernatural skill: second sight. When I revealed to those around me the terrible events that were supposed to happen I evidently spoke as a man of logic and wisdom; however, when I saw small details of those events, vague and generic, when I noticed this or that victim, I then spoke not only as a skilled man but as someone inspired.
3. Regardless of this, have you had other examples of predictions during your life? – A. Yes. They were all more or less about the same subject. Nevertheless, I studied the occult sciences as a pastime, and got involved with magnetism.
4. Has such a predictive faculty followed you in the spiritual word, that is, after your death can you still foresee certain events? – A. Yes. That gift remained but much more purified.
OBSERVATION: One could see here a contradiction with the principle that opposes the revelation of the future. In fact, the future is hidden from us as the result of a very wise law from the Providence, since such knowledge would harm our free-will, leading us to neglect the present by the future. Furthermore, given our position, we could hinder certain events that are necessary to the general order. However, when such communication may impel us to facilitate the realization of something, God then allows its revelation, within the limits designated by his wisdom.
The Voice of the Guardian Angel (Medium, Ms. Huet)
Every person is a medium; everyone that is prepared to hear has a spirit that guides them to good. It does not matter that some people may communicate with them through some specific type of mediumship and that others may only hear them through their inner voices in their hearts and minds. It does not matter; it is still the familiar spirit that gives them advice. Call it spirit, reason, or intelligence, it is always a voice that responds to your soul and gives you good advice. You don’t always understand it though. It is not this reason that drags and crawls as to never moving forward; not this reason that loses itself amidst material interests and bad behavior, but this reason that raises the individual above himself, transporting him to unknown regions; a sacred passion that inspires artists, poets, the divine thoughts that raises the momentum of the philosopher; and leads individuals and groups, a reason that the common crude individual cannot understand, but it approaches a man of divinity more than any other creature; an understanding that he knows how to steer from the known to the unknown, and makes him perform the most sublime acts. Thus, listen to that inner voice, that good spirit who unceasingly speaks to you, then you will progressively begin to hear your guardian angel that reaches out to you from heaven.
Channing
Channing
Flirtatiousness (Medium Mrs. Costel)
Today we will occupy our time discussing female flirtatiousness which is the enemy of love: she kills it or weakens it, which is worse. A flirtatious woman is like a caged bird that through its songs attracts others to it. It attracts men who break their hearts against their protective shields. Pity her more than them. Held captive by her narrow ideas and the callousness of her heart, she tramples in the darkness of her conscience, incapable of enjoying the sunshine of love that only irradiates upon generous and dedicated souls. It is harder to feel love than to inspire it and all, however, are worried and search the desired heart without first examining if what they now possess is the coveted treasure.
No, love which is the sensuality of egoism is no more love than flirtatiousness is seduction to an elevated soul. There is reason enough to reproach and obstruct these fragile relationships, shameful exchanges of vanity and miseries of all kinds.
Love remains external to those things; more than the ray of light, it is not contaminated by the reprobate who will become enlightened. Foolish are the women that don’t understand that their beauty, their virtue, is love in its abandonment, in its neglect of personal interests, and in its transmigration of the soul itself, entirely to be loved. God blesses the woman who has worn the yoke of love, rejecting those who make a precious sentiment into a trophy of vanity, a distraction to her idleness, or a sensual flame that consumes the body leaving the heart empty.
No, love which is the sensuality of egoism is no more love than flirtatiousness is seduction to an elevated soul. There is reason enough to reproach and obstruct these fragile relationships, shameful exchanges of vanity and miseries of all kinds.
Love remains external to those things; more than the ray of light, it is not contaminated by the reprobate who will become enlightened. Foolish are the women that don’t understand that their beauty, their virtue, is love in its abandonment, in its neglect of personal interests, and in its transmigration of the soul itself, entirely to be loved. God blesses the woman who has worn the yoke of love, rejecting those who make a precious sentiment into a trophy of vanity, a distraction to her idleness, or a sensual flame that consumes the body leaving the heart empty.
Georges