The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

It is well-known that one of the difficulties of Spiritism resides in the identification of the manifesting Spirits and the means employed to not always yield positive identification. From that point of view the best proofs are those that come from the spontaneity of the communications. Although these proofs are not rare, when well characterized it is better to confirm them first for one’s own satisfaction and as an object of study, and on another hand to respond to the objections of those who deny their possibility probably because they were unsuccessful for having being badly applied or due to their own preconceived ideas.

We repeat here what we said somewhere else that the identity of the Spirits who lived at distant times and that come to bring us their teachings is almost impossible to verify and only a relative importance must be given to the names that they use. Is their message good or bad, rational or illogical, worthy or unworthy of the names that they bear? That is the whole issue. The same does not apply to the contemporary Spirits whose character and habits are known by us, Spirits that can demonstrate their identity through particularities and details that are only rarely obtained when requested and that is necessary to learn to wait. Such is the fact reported in the letter below:

“Bordeaux, January 25^th, 1862 My dear Mr. Kardec,

You know that we like to submit our works to you, entirely accepting your enlightenment and the appreciation of your experience. Thus, when dealing with cases of shocking identity, we just limit ourselves to the exposition of the details.

The following letter was sent to us by Mr. Guipon, Head Accountant of the Southern Railways Co. and leading member of the Spiritist Society of Bordeaux, on the 14^th of the present month:

‘My dear Mr. Sabò,

On the 18^th of the same month we carried out the requested evocation, in the presence of about ten honorable persons of our town.

3. Why do you show yourself to that person? – A. Ah! I was going to die. I was afraid and others feared for me. They searched for a Christ everywhere to help me transpose the difficult passage between life and death. There was a person to whom I show up had one but refused to lend that to me to have it placed upon my dying lips and between my hands like a token of peace and love. Well! The person will have to see me many times. She will always see me there. I must leave now. I feel bad here. Let me go. Good-bye.

Immediately after the evocation I opened the sealed envelope that contained the following details:

‘On the occasion of the death of Carrère, Deputy Supervisor of the Bordeaux team, deceased on December 18^th last, Mr. Beautey, Head of the P.V. station, had the body transported to the passengers terminal and sent one of the workers to his house to ask Mrs. Beautey for a Christ to have it placed on the corpse. That lady responded that the Christ was broken and could not lend it. On January 10^th Mrs. Beautey confessed to her husband that the Christ that she had refused to lend was not broken but that she did not want to loan it to avoid experiencing the emotions that followed a similar incident, which occurred more or less in the same conditions. Next she added that she would never refuse anything to any deceased person, thus justifying: - During the whole night of that man’s death he was visible to me; for a long time I saw him around the Christ then by its side. Mrs. Beautey who had never seen that man before described him so well to her husband that he acknowledged as if he was present. In fact this is not the first time that Mrs. Beautey sees Spirits in her wake state. However, a remarkable fact is that the spirit of Carrère left a strong impression on her, something that would not happen when she saw other Spirits.’

Guipon

Down below there is the following statement:


This narrative is perfectly accurate. Beautey, Chief of Station

I thought I should report the case of identity that I have just exposed, incidentally rare and that has certainly occurred with God’s permission, utilizing every means to challenge disbelief and indifference. In case you find it useful to publish the interesting episode you will find below the signature of all persons that attended the session. They ask me to let you know that their names can be published since it would be a mistake to keep their names incognito in this case. The names that appear in the evocation of Carrère can also be published.

Your dedicated servant,

As always the non-believers will take this case as if it were imagined. They will say, for example, that Mrs. Beautey was shocked by her refusal and that she was led to believe that she saw Mr. Carrère out of remorse. We recognize that it is possible. However, the detractors who do not have the habit of analyzing before judging do not examine if there is any circumstance that escapes their theory. How would they explain her description of a man that she had never seen before? How about the evocation, will you also say that the medium was just translating his own thoughts or those of the attendees since the circumstances were ignored? Was it also chance?

- No. However, among the attendees was Mr. Guipon, author of the sealed letter and knowledgeable of the facts. Well, his thoughts would have been transmitted to the medium through the chain of fluids since the mediums are always in a state of febrile super- excitation, provoked and fed by the concentration of the attendees and his own will. Well, in such an abnormal state that is nothing else but a biological state, according to Mr. Figuier, there are emanations that escape from the brain giving exceptional perception originated from the expansion of the fluids, which in turn establish relationships between present and even absent persons. Hence, you see by this a much clearer, logical explanation. There is no need to resource to the intervention of the supposed Spirits that only exist in your imagination.

- Such reasoning, we humbly confess, is beyond our intelligence. We ask you: Do you understand that well?