The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1864

Several newspapers reported the following:

“The event of the week, says a letter sent from Rome to the Times, is the order given to Mr. Home, the renowned medium, to leave the pontifical city in three days. Mr. Home was invited to the local police station where he was formally questioned. He was asked about the time he intended to spend in Rome; if he had practiced Spiritism after his conversion to Catholicism, etc. Here some words exchanged on that occasion as registered by Mr. Home himself in his private notes and that he apparently gives away very easily.

Not much impressed by those prodigies, the police chief invited the magician to leave Rome in three days. Mr. Home invoked the protection of international laws and reported the event to the English Consul who was then granted by Mr. Mateucci that the renowned medium would no longer be bothered and that he would move on with his staying in Rome since he intended to abstain from any communication with the spiritual world during that time. Remarkable! Mr. Home agreed with the condition and signed the required commitment. How could he compromise to not use the power if it did not depend on his will? That is what we will not try to understand.”

We don’t know how much of the story is accurate in the details but a letter sent by Mr. Home a short while ago to a lady acquaintance of our seems to confirm the main subject. With respect to the rapping there is no doubt that they should be left to the stories habitually told by papers not much interested in studying things from the other world.

In fact Mr. Home is in Rome right now and the reason is very noble on his part for us not to mention it considering that the newspapers took the opportunity to ridicule him.

Mr. Home is not rich and he is not afraid of saying that he needs to find work to provide him with the complement he needs to make ends meet. He thought of finding a solution with his natural talent for sculpture and that is why he traveled to Rome to learn more about that art. He could have become rich, really rich from the exploitation of his remarkable mediumistic gift. The simplicity of his condition is the best answer to have the name of charlatan been thrown on his face. However, he know that the gift was given to him with a providential objective in the interest of a sacred cause, knowing that it would be a sacrilege to have it converted into a profession.

He holds the duties imposed by that gift in the highest degree, understanding that the Spirits manifest through him by the will of God to redirect mankind to the faith in a future life and not for the exhibition in spectacles of curiosity, competing with deceivers or serving the interests of greed that wanted to exploit it.

As a matter of fact he knows that the Spirits are not commanded or controlled by anybody and even less of those who wished to exhibit their actions by charging people to attend the sessions. There isn’t a single medium in the world that can guarantee the production of a phenomenon in a given moment hence we must conclude that thinking otherwise is a clear demonstration of total ignorance of the most elementary principles of the science. Now if the Spirits do not respond to the calls or don’t do sufficiently remarkable things to satisfy curiosity and sustain the medium’s reputation any supposition is allowed and one does need to find the means of providing that to the spectators in exchange for their money if one does not want to give it back.

It is never too much to repeat that the best guarantee of honesty is the absolute selflessness. A medium is always strong when capable of responding to those who are suspicious of their faith: “How much did you pay to be here”?

Still once more: Serious mediumship cannot be and will never be a profession and not only because it would be morally discredited but also because it is founded on an essentially mobile, escaping and variable gift and that no one that may have it today can be certain of still enjoying it tomorrow. It is only the charlatans who are always sure about themselves.

A talent that is acquired through work and study is something different and for that reason it is a property that one is allowed to utilize at will. Mediumship is not in that class. Exploiting that is the same as using something that is not ours; it is like deviating it from its providential objective. And there is more: One is not utilizing oneself but the Spirits, the soul of the dead, whose support would carry a price tag. Such a thought is instinctively repulsive. That is why in every serious center, where Spiritism is dealt with respect and reverence, like in Lyon, Bordeaux and so many other places, exploiting mediums would be completely disregarded. Thus, someone that does not enough to live on must look for alternative somewhere else and if necessary only dedicate to mediumship the time that is physically possible. The Spirits will take into account your sacrifices and devotion whereas those who wish to use mediumship as a ladder will be punished by the retrieval of the mediumship or by keeping the good Spirits away, by compromising mystifications or by even more unpleasant means as demonstrated by experience.

Mr. Home knows well that he would lose the assistance of his protector Spirits had he abused his gift. His first punishment would be the loss of esteem and consideration of honorable families that take him as a friend and who would no longer invite him but like those that do home delivery of theatrical plays.



During his stay in Paris we know that certain groups made him big offers to give sessions, always refused by him. All of those that know him and understand the true interest of Spiritism will applaud his resolution. From our side we are thankful for the good example that he gives.

We only insisted again on the subject of the mediums’ selflessness because we are certain that fictitious and abusive mediumship is one way through which the enemies of Spiritism will try to discredit it as charlatanism. It is thus necessary that all those who seriously take the burden of the cause of the doctrine be on alert in order to expose the fraudulent maneuvers, if any, and show that true Spiritism has nothing in common with the parodies that can be made about it and that Spiritism repudiates anything beyond its essential and moralizing principle.

The article transcribed above offers several other aspects for observation. The author believes that Mr. Home must be qualified as a magician. Everything seems very innocent however further down it says: “the much renowned medium”, an expression used with respect to doubtful celebrities.

But where are Mr. Home’s faults and crimes? It is free slander not only to him but also to all respectable persons and highly placed in society that invite him and thus seem to sponsor an ill-spoken person. The last statement of the article is more curious because it contains one of those flagrant contradictions that go unnoticed by the adversaries. The author is surprised by the fact that Mr. Home accepted the imposition of a commitment asking how he could have promised not to use a power that is independent of his will. If he wanted to know we would refer him to the study of the Spiritist phenomena, their causes and their mode of production and he would understand how come Mr. Home agreed with what in fact had nothing to do with the manifestations obtained by him in private, even if under the shackles of inquisition. However it seems that the author is not much concerned since he adds: “That is what we don’t try to understand.” With these words he insidiously hints that such phenomena are just charlatanism.

Nonetheless the bylaw passed by the pontifical government demonstrates their fear for the ostensive manifestations. Well, what they fear is not prestidigitation. Would this government interdict physicists that imitate the manifestations? Certainly not because many other less evangelical things are allowed in Rome. Why stop Mr. Home then? Why deporting him from the country if he is just a magician? Some will say that it is for the benefit of religion. Be it. But then is religion so fragile that it can be so easily compromised? In Rome as elsewhere swindlers execute more or less skillfully the trick of the magic bottle in which water is converted into all kinds of wine and the magic hat in which bread and other objects multiply. Nevertheless they are not afraid that those tricks will discredit the miracles of Jesus since everybody knows that the former are simple imitations. If they fear Mr. Home it is because there is something serious about him and not simple tricks. That is what any person that may think a little about it will conclude. Nobody will seriously consider that a sovereign court that are not exactly fools will be afraid of a myth. We are certainly not the only ones to make these considerations and the newspapers that hastily divulge the incident in search of ridicule will very naturally provoke serious investigation so that the result as everything else that has been done to denigrate Spiritism will have the only effect of make it more popular.

Thus an apparently insignificant event will inevitably have more serious consequences than expected. We don’t doubt that it may have been produced to speed up the emergence of Spiritism in Italy where it already counts on a large number of followers even among the clergy. Besides we don’t doubt that the Roman Curia sooner or later unwillingly becomes one of the main instruments of the propagation of the doctrine in that country because it has been established that the very adversaries of Spiritism will serve its propagation by all means employed to have it destroyed. Therefore blind is the one that cannot see God’s finger in all of this. This will undoubtedly be one of the most remarkable facts of the history of Spiritism; one that best attests its power and origin.

Of all the moral plagues of society, selfishness seems the most difficult to eradicate; it is all the more so because it is sustained by the very habits of education. It seems that it is a task to excite, from the cradle, certain passions which later become second nature, and we are astonished at the vices of society, while the children suck them with milk. Here is an example which, as everyone can judge, belongs more to the rule than to the exception.

In a family of our acquaintance there is a four to five year old little girl of rare intelligence, but who has the little defects of spoiled children, that is to say, she is somewhat capricious, mournful, stubborn, and does not always say thank you when something is given to her, something that her parents are very keen to correct, because apart from these, they say she has a golden heart, a commonly used expression. Let us see how they go about removing these small spots and preserving the purity of gold.

One day they had brought a cake to the child, and as is usually the custom, they told her: "You will eat it if you are good; first lesson of greed. How many times a child is told at the table that she will not eat such a delicacy if she cries. "Do this, do that," they say, "and you will get a candy," or something else that the child may desire; and the child is constrained, not by reason, but in order to satisfy a sensual desire which is stimulated. It is still worse when not infrequently the child is told that her portion will be given to someone else; it is no longer gluttony alone that is at stake, but also envy; the child will do what is commanded, not only to have, but for someone else not to have. Want to give her a lesson of generosity? The child is told, "Give this fruit or this toy to this other child;” if the child refuses, one does not fail to add, to stimulate a good feeling in her: "I will give you another one”; so that the child decides to be generous only when she is sure of losing nothing.

One day we witnessed a very characteristic fact of that kind. It was a child of about two and half years that had been threatened by something similar, added by this: “We will give it to your little brother and you will have nothing.” To turn the threat real the put the piece on the brother’s plate that took the lesson seriously and ate the portion. Facing that the child blushed and it was not necessary to be the father or the mother to see the ray of rage and hatred in the little eyes. The seed was sown. Could it produce a good grain?

Let us go back to the girl that was mentioned earlier. Since she did not bother with the threat and knew from experience that it was rarely enforced this time they were firmer for they understood that it was necessary to tame the little personality and not wait for the acquisition of a bad habit with age. They said that it was necessary to form children at an early age, a very wise maxim, and to put that forward here is what they did: “I promise you”, the mom said, that if you don’t obey me tomorrow morning I will give your piece of cake to the first poor girl that comes around.” Said and done. This time they wanted to keep their promise and teach her a good lesson. Then, comes the next morning and they brought inside a little beggar and forced the daughter to take her by the hand and had her passing the cake to the poor child. They then praised her kindness. Here the result. The daughter said: “If I only knew that I would have eaten the cake yesterday.” Followed by a general applause for such a witty comment.

In fact the child had been given a strong lesson but of pure egotism that she will use on another occasion since now she knows the price of such a forced generosity. One does not know the fruits to be produced by such a seed when at a later age the child applies the teaching to more serious things than a piece of cake.

Does one know all the thoughts produced by the single event in the little head? After all that how can one expect a child not to be selfish when instead of exciting the pleasure of giving and to demonstrate the happiness of the one that receives the child is imposed sacrifice for punishment? Aren’t we inspiring aversion to the act of giving to the needy?

Another equally frequent custom is that of punishing a child by sending her to eat with the servants in the kitchen. The punishment is less in the exclusion of the table than in the humiliation of having to join the servants. The virus of sensuality, selfishness, pride, neglect towards the inferiors and all passions, in a word, that are considered the ulcers of humanity are then implanted.

One does need to be exceptionally good natured to resist to such influences produced in the most impressionable age in which one cannot find the counter weight of will-power or experience. Hence, however small the germ of bad passions is, and that it the more common place considering the nature of the Spirits incarnate on Earth, there is no way such a germ will not proliferate under those influences whereas it would be a matter of just observing its traces in order to curb them.

There is no doubt that it is the parents’ fault here but we must say that those frequently fail more out of ignorance than bad will. In many parents there is an undisputable carelessness but in many others there is good intention but the remedy, however, is either worthless or badly used.

Since parents are the first doctors of their children’s soul, they should be better educated not only with respect to their duties but also regarding the means for achieving them. It is not enough to the medical doctor to know that a cure is needed but how to proceed. Well, where can the parents find the proper means for such relevant task? A lot of instruction is given to mothers these days that have to go through a battery of tests but has anyone taught her how to prepare her kids morally? They are taught homemade recipes but have they been initiated into the governing issues of the youngsters’ hearts?

Parents are therefore left on their own. That is why they so frequently follow wrong paths. They then harvest the bitter fruits of their own inexperience from their children’s mistakes or misunderstood love whose blows are felt by the whole society. Considering that egotism and pride are knowingly the source of the majority of human miseries; that while those vices reign on Earth one cannot expect peace, charity or fraternity, then it is necessary to attack them in their embryonic state instead of waiting to have them grown up.

Can Spiritism remediate such a problem? We have no doubt and do not hesitate to say that Spiritism is the only one sufficiently powerful to stop that through its new point of view through which it allows parents to perceive their mission and responsibility; providing the knowledge about the source of innate qualities, good or bad; showing the action that can be exerted onto incarnate and discarnate Spirits; providing the unbreakable faith that sanctions the duties and finally moralizing the parents themselves. Spiritism already proves its efficacy by the more rational methods employed in the education of children in the truly Spiritist families. The horizons opened by Spiritism allow us to see things differently. Since its objective is the progress of humanity it will forcibly illuminate the serious problem of moral education, the first source of moralization of the masses.

One day people will understand that this side of education has its principles and rules in a true science, like in the intellectual education. Perhaps one day every mother will also have the obligation of knowing such rules like the attorney that requires the knowledge of law.

The paper Monde Illustré from February 7^th, 1863 carries the drama of a family that understandably moved Florence’s society. The author begins the narrative as follows:

“Here is the story. He was a seventy-two-year old man; she was a twenty years old young lady. He had married her three years ago… Do not be disgusted! The old Count from Viterbo was absolutely alone, without any family at all, something very strange to a millionaire. Amalia had family but no millions. He almost saw her at birth and to compensate things and having a good and kind heart he told her mother: “Allow me to paternally marry Amalia. She will take care of me for a few years and then…”

The weeding took place. Amalia understands her duties; she takes good care of the old man sacrificing all the pleasures of her age. Since the Count turned blind and paraplegic she spent long hours of the day making him company, reading to him, telling him stories, distracting and enchanting his days. “How kind my dear daughter!” he used to say many times, taking her by the hand, pulling her in to deposit on her head the respectful kiss of his thankfulness and acknowledgement.

One day, however, he notices that Amalia remains distant; that although always assiduous and solicit she seems to be afraid of seating by his feet. A suspicion crosses his heart. One evening when she was reading for him he took her by the arm and pulled her towards him by the waist, producing a horrible scream and falling onto her feet, exhausted by the emotion and rage. Amalia loses it; she climbs the stairs to the second floor and throws herself out of the window, falling down and shattering her body on the ground. The old man out survives the catastrophe six hours only.”

-o-

People will ask which relationship this story may have with Spiritism. Is that the intervention of some foolish Spirits? – The relationship is in the deductions that Spiritism teaches us to make out of apparently vulgar things of life. When the skeptical or indifferent only sees reason for irony or moves on carelessly the Spiritist observes and finds a teaching there, going back to the providential causes, probing the consequences to a future life according to the examples that are offered by the relationships from beyond the grave, by the justice of God.



In the event reported above instead of a simple and pleasant anecdote between him, the old man, and her, the young lady, Spiritism sees two victims. Since the interest towards the unfortunate ones does not stop at this present life but follows the future life in which it believes, it questions then if there isn’t a double punishment for a double fault and if both aren’t punished for their sins. Spiritism sees a suicide and since it knows that such a crime is always punished it questions the degree of responsibility incurred by the one that commits it.

Those who believe that Spiritism only deals with gnomes and fantastic apparitions, with dancing tables and rapping Spirits, if you took the burden of studying it you would know that Spiritism touches all moral issues. Those Spirits that seem laughable to you and that are, however, only the souls of people, they give to those that observe their manifestations a proof that the observer herself is a Spirit, momentarily linked to a body. The observer sees in death not the end of life but the door of a prison that opens up to the prisoner that regains freedom. Learns that the vicissitudes of corporeal life are the consequences of one’s own imperfections, that is, atonement for the past and present, trials for the future. From that the observer is then led not to see the events as out of blind chance but from the hands of Providence. For that observer the fair sentence: “… he will repay each person according to what he has done” finds application not only beyond the grave but also on Earth. That is why everything that happens around has its reason to be and its value. The observer studies to take advantage and improve one’s own behavior aiming at the future that is a demonstrated reality. Such a person analyzes the disgraces that affect her and learns to no longer accuse luck or fatality for something that is owned to oneself.

These comments have the sole objective of showing that Spiritism deals with much more serious things that the rapping Spirits and we now return to our subject. Since the fact was made public it is allowed to appreciate it although we will not name anyone.

If we examine the thing from a purely mundane point of view the majority of people will only see the very natural consequence of a disproportional union and will throw at the old man the stone of ridicule as the only funeral prayer. Others will accuse the young lady of ingratitude for having betrayed the trust of the generous man that wanted to make her rich. To the Spiritist, however, it has a more serious side because the Spiritist seeks a teaching there.

The question we ask ourselves is then if the action of the old man was not more out of selfishness than generosity by imprisoning a young lady, almost a child, to his late days by indissoluble links to an age in which one thinks first about retirement instead of enjoying the world? Wouldn’t it be a terrible imposition of sacrifice to her making her pay dearly for the promised fortune? There is no true generosity without selflessness. As for the young lady, she could not accept those links but with the perspective of seeing them broken soon for she had no real affection towards the old man. Hence, there was calculation from both sides and such calculation proved wrong. God did not allow one or the other to enjoy that. One was inflicted by disillusion, the other by shame that killed them both.

It still remains the responsibility of suicide that never goes unpunished but that many times finds attenuating circumstances. The young lady’s mother in trying to encourage her had said: “With that great fortune you will bring happiness to the poor man that you love. While you wait, honor and respect that great heart that wanted to turn you into his heir during the time that he still has.”

The mother wanted to touch her; but to enjoy the benefits of that great heart that would have been greater by donating without interest, it would be necessary to speculate about the duration of his life. The lady made a mistake by giving in but the mother made an even bigger mistake by exciting her and she will be the one that will have a greater responsibility for the daughter’s suicide.

That is how the one that kills oneself to escape misery is guilty for the lack of courage and resignation, but even much guiltier still is the one that is the primary cause of that act of despair. That is what Spiritism teaches through the examples exposed to the eyes of those that study the invisible world.

As for the mother, her punishment begins in this life, first with the terrible death of her daughter whose image may perhaps persecute her and bring her a lot of remorse, then for the inutility of the sacrifice that she provoked because with the death of the husband six hours after his wife, his whole fortune will now go to the hands of collateral third parties, without any benefit to her.

The papers are full of cases of that kind, honorable or reproachable, that may offer subject matter for serious moral studies, like the one we just reported. It is an inextinguishable source of observation and education to the Spiritists. Spiritism provides the means of finding details that go unnoticed by the careless ones and even more by the skeptical that only see in them facts more or less spicy not looking for the causes or consequences. To the groups it is a fecund element of work to which the protector Spirits will not fail in providing their appreciation.

In the November 1863 issue of the Spiritist Review we published a letter from an inmate in a prison as a proof of the moralizing effect of Spiritism. The letter transcribed below from another prisoner in a different prison is an example of that powerful influence. The letter is dated December 27^th 1863. We transcribe it textually as for the style. We only corrected orthographic typos.

“Dear Sir,

A few days ago we I learned about Spiritism for the first time and the revelation from beyond the grave I laughed and said that it was not possible. I spoke as an ignorant person that I am. A few days later and in the horrible situation that I find myself I was fortunate to have been presented with your excellent The Spirits’ Book. In the beginning I read a few pages with skepticism not willing, or even better, not believing in this science. I finally and without noticing began to like it; I then took it more seriously; next I read your book a second time but then with a different mind frame, that is, with calm and the whole intelligence that God gave me. I then felt the awakening of an old faith that my mother had planted in my heart and that was dormant for a long time. I felt the desire to clarify myself with respect to Spiritism. From that moment on I made the decision of learn, see and only later judge. I put hands on with the whole belief in God and in God’s power. I wanted to see the truth. I prayed with fervor and began the experiments.

The first ones were null, without any result but that did not discourage me. I persevered with the attempts and my word I doubled my prayers that were not perhaps strong enough and fully dedicated to the work with the conviction of a believer that waits. After a few evenings, since I only can work at night, I felt my fingertips trembling and a slight sensation in the arm as if I had felt the current of a lukewarm creek over the arm, stopping at the wrist. I was then highly concentrated with a lot of faith. My pencil delineated some perfectly legible lines but not correct enough to preclude me from thinking that it could be hallucination. I then patiently waited for the following evening to restart the experiments, this time thanking God from the bottom of my heart for I had already obtained more than I would dare expect.

Since then every other evening I work with the Spirits that are good enough to respond to my appeal and in less than ten minutes they respond with charity. I write half pages or full pages that I could never do from my own intelligence alone because sometimes they write about philosophical and religious matters that I have never thought about or practiced; at the first results I used to tell myself: Aren’t you a toy of your own hallucination or will power? Reflection and examination demonstrated that I was far from that intelligence that had scribed those lines. I would then lower my head, believed and could not go against the evidence, unless I was completely mad. I then sent two or three of those communications to the person that had charitably given me your book so that she could sanction my work. I herein ask you Sir, since you are the soul of Spiritism, to kindly allow me to send you whatever I may have obtained and that is serious in my conversations with the beyond the grave if you think it is okay. If that pleases you I will send you the dialogues established with Verger, the one that hurt the Archbishop of Paris. In order to ensure that the manifesting Spirit was the person he said he was I evoked St. Louis that responded positively as well as another Spirit that I trust a lot…etc.”

-o-

The moral consequences of that event are deduced by themselves. Here is a man that had abjured any belief and that caught by the law is mixed with the scum of society. That man returned to his faith amidst a moral swamp. He sees the abyss in which he has thrown himself; he is regretful; he prays and we must say, he prays more sincerely than many people that exhibits devotion. The simple reading of a book was enough for that, a book in which he found the elements of faith that could be admitted by his reason, animated his hopes and allowed him to understand the future. Besides, and that is remarkable, he initially read with prevention and his disbelief was only defeated by the superiority of logic.

If such results are produced by a simple reading done, say, in hiding, what would that be if it could have been added to the influence of verbal explanations! It is well true that given the current spiritual condition of these two men (see the reported fact in the last November issue of the Spiritist Review) they will not only don’t show any reproachable behavior but will also enter the world with a firm resolution of living an honest life. Considering that these two condemned men could have been redirected to the good path by the faith that they found in Spiritism it is obvious that had they had such a faith before they would not have committed their crimes. Hence the propagation of a doctrine with such a moralizing power is then in the interest of society. That is what begins to happen.

Another consequence taken from the reported fact is that the Spirits are not blocked by the shackles and that they take their consolations to the furthest places in prison. Consequently nobody has the power to impede their manifestation in a way or another. If it is not in writing it is by hearing. They face any prohibition and laugh at any attempt to stop them, transposing any physical obstacle. Which barrier then can the enemies of Spiritism impose on them?

Mr. Dombre, President of the Spiritist Society of Marmande, sends us the following:

“In five days and with the support of the good Spirits we rid a thirteen-year-old young lady from a very violent and dangerous obsession under the influence of a bad Spirit since May 8th last. She used to go through pitiful daily crises at five pm, every day without exception. The girl lives in a distant region and her relatives thinking that her disease was epilepsy no longer wanted to talk about it. Nevertheless, one of our members that lives nearby heard about the case and observing the facts more attentively was then able to easily identify the true cause. Following the advice of or spiritual guides we then started working immediately. On the eleventh of this month in our 8pm session we started by evoking and moralizing the obsessing Spirit, praying for him and the victim, exerting a mental magnetization upon that Spirit. The sessions happened every evening and on Friday 15th the girl experienced her last crises. She still suffers the effects of the long and violent shocks, showing some sadness, languidness, and tears as we were previously informed. We were informed daily about the phases of the disease by the good Spirits.

Such a cure that on other occasions would have been considered miracles and on others acts of witchcraft for which we would have been either sanctified or burnt to death produced a certain vibe in town.”

We congratulate our brothers from Marmande for the good result obtained in that case and we are happy to see that they took advantage of the advices contained in the Spiritist Review when we published similar cases reported lately. They were then able to convince themselves about the strength of collective action when directed with sincere faith and true charity.

The Journal de la Vienne carried the following fact on January 21st, also reproduced by other journals:



“Five or six days ago in Poitiers an extraordinary event took place that became theme of conversations and the strangest remarks. Every evening, starting at 6pm, singular noises are heard in a home located at Rue Neuve-Saint-Paul, inhabited by Ms. de O…, Count de O… sister. From what we were told the noises resemble the effect of artillery shooting. Violent blows seem to be reach doors and their structures. In the beginning people thought they were produced by kids or ill-faith neighbors. A stake out was organized and given Ms. de O… complaint the police took the matter seriously in minor details. Agents were placed inside and outside the house. The explosions, however, continued and we heard from good people that the night before the last one officer Mr. M… was taken by such a commotion that he is not fully aware yet today. Our whole town is concerned with such inexplicable mystery. Up until now the police inquiries have not led to any result. Everybody tries to decipher the enigma. Some persons initiated in Spiritism pretend that the authors of those manifestations are the rapping Spirits, not alien to a famous medium that nevertheless does not live in the region. Others bring up the memory that in old times there was a cemetery at Rue Neuve-Saint-Paul and hence it is unnecessary to say the conjectures that follow that idea. We do not know what is the most plausible of those explanations. Public opinion is still shocked by the case and last night a considerable crowd gathered by the window of Ms. O… house for what local authorities had to send the 10th regiment of hunters to evacuate the place. The police and the guard occupy the house as we speak.”



Similar reports were sent to us by multiple correspondents. Although they do not present anything stranger than the facts verified in manifestations occurred at different times and within the limits of the possible it is wise to keep judgment until a more thorough investigation not of the facts per se but of the causes since one must keep from attributing to the Spirits everything that one cannot understand. It is also necessary to be suspicious about maneuvers perpetrated by the enemies of Spiritism and the traps that they can lay down to try to ridicule it by the great belief of its followers.

We see with satisfaction that the Spiritists of Poitiers followed the advices found in The Mediums’ Book and the warnings we gave in the Spiritist Review and keep their reserved prudence until facts are further clarified. If it is a manifestation it will be demonstrated by a total lack of material cause; if it is a mockery the authors would have unwillingly contributed, as done many times before, to excite the interest of the indifferent and provoke the study of Spiritism. When analogous facts multiply everywhere, as it has been announced, and when the cause is uselessly sought in this world, people will have to realize that it is in the other one. In any case the Spiritists demonstrate their wisdom and moderation. It is the best answer to the adversaries.

Spiritist Society of Sens – medium Mr. Percheron



God wanted the Spirit of person to be connected to matter to suffer the vicissitudes of the body with which it identifies to the point of having the illusion that the body is the self when it is no more than its transient prison. It is like the prison that would confound himself with the walls of the prison.



Materialistic persons are too blind to be aware of their mistake for if they wanted to reflect a little more seriously they would see that their own manifestation is not matter; that considering the fact that the matter of the body renovates continuously like the water current of a river it is only the Spirit that allows them to be always aware of themselves.



Suppose that the body of a man that weights sixty kilograms would renovate 1 kilogram per day to repair his forces and replace old molecules that separate and that accomplished the task that was assigned to them in the composition of the organs. After sixty days the whole body would have completely renovated its matter. Based on that hypothesis that is true in principle but whose numbers may be contested the matter of the body would be completely renovated six times per year. The body of a twenty year old man would already have been renovated one hundred times; at the age of forty, two hundred and forty times; at eighty four hundred and eighty times. But would the soul have been renovated at all? No because you are aware that you are always yourself. Hence your Spirit is your own self and through which you affirm yourself and not your body that is nothing more than ephemeral and mutable matter.



The materialists and pantheists say that after death the disaggregating molecules return to a common mass of the primitive elements and that the same happens to the soul, that is, with the being that thinks in you. But do they know about it? Is there a common substance of mass that thinks? They never demonstrate that but before stating they should have demonstrated it. It is no more than a hypothesis from them. Considering that the molecules disaggregate several hundreds of times during the life of the body while the Spirit remains the same and keeps the consciousness of its own individuality, isn’t that more logical to admit that the nature of the Spirit is not disaggregating? Why then would it dissolve after the death of the body and not before?



After the digression addressed to the materialist I return to my subject. If God wanted the spiritual creatures momentarily attached to matter it is, and I repeat, to make them feel and in a way suffer the needs imposed by matter to the conservation of its bodies. From those needs arise the vicissitudes that make you suffer and understand the commiseration that you must have towards your fellow human beings in such situation! Such a transient state is then necessary for the progress of your Spirit what would remain stagnant without that. The needs imposed by the body stimulate your Spirit forcing it to find the means of providing for those needs and the development of thought is born from that forced labor. Forced to preside over the movements of the body to drive it aiming at its own conservation the Spirit is led to the material work and from there to the intellectual work, one needed by the other, for the realization of the Spirit’s conceptions require the work of the body that can only be done under the direction and impulse of the Spirit.



Thus having acquired the habit of working, constrained by the needs of the body, the work in turn becomes a necessity and when detached from its links the Spirit no longer needs to think about matter but still thinks about the need to work and advance oneself.



You now understand the need for your Spirit to be linked to matter during part of its existence so as not to remain stationary.



Your father, Percheron – assisted by the Spirit of Pascal





OBSERVATION: We add to these perfectly fair observations that by working for oneself the incarnate Spirit works towards the betterment of the world that he inhabits. The Spirit that is the intelligent element of creation therefore helps its own transformation and material progress that are in God’s designs. Everything interconnects in nature as designed by the wisdom of Providence; all creatures and things are solidary. Later on when the Spirit is sufficiently advanced it will enjoy the fruits of its own work.

Spiritist Society of Paris – medium Ms. A. C.



I

Limits of incarnation

Reincarnation is needed while the Spirit is still dominated by matter. However as soon as the Spirit dominates matter and nulls the effects of its reaction upon the moral side reincarnation then has no more utility or meaning. In fact the body is needed to the Spirit for the progressive work until that instrument is managed by the will of the Spirit when the work is then concluded. The Spirit then requires another field for its evolution and advancement towards infinity. Another circle of studies is needed where the thick matter of inferior worlds is unknown. Having been depurated and experienced its sensations on Earth or similar globes the Spirit is mature for the spiritual life and its studies. Elevated above all material sensations the Spirit no longer feels the desires or needs inherent to the corporeal life: it is Spirit and live according to spiritual sensations that are infinitely more enjoyable than the most pleasant sensations of the body.


II

Reincarnation and the aspirations of mankind


The aspirations of the soul lead to their realization and such realization is achieved in incarnation while the Spirit is doing material work. I explain myself. Let us take the Spirit at the beginning of its human career. Stupid and brute it nonetheless feels the divine spark in itself for the Spirit adores a God that is materialized according to the importance of matter to the Spirit. In this creature close to the animal there is an instinctive almost unconscious aspiration to a less inferior state. It starts by the need to satisfy one’s material appetites and envies those that are in a better state. Thus, in a new incarnation the Spirit chooses or even better is dragged towards a more advanced body and always in every existence the Spirit desires a material betterment. Never satisfied the Spirit always wants to improve because the aspiration of happiness is the great lever of progress. While there is a refinement in material sensations of the Spirit the spiritual sensations also awake and flourish. That is when the moral work begins and the depuration of the soul joins the aspiration of the body to achieve a superior state. Such a state of equality between material and spiritual aspirations does not last long because soon the Spirit will elevate above matter and the sensations can no longer be satisfied there. The Spirit needs more; needs better things; but since the body has reached the limit of sensations it can no longer follow the Spirit that now dominates the body and detaches from it more and more like from a useless instrument. The Spirit now dominates desires, aspirations and the will to achieve a superior state; feels that the material aspirations that once were reason for happiness are now only obstacles, a degradation, a sad need from which Spirit wishes to free from in order to enjoy boundlessly all the presented spiritual ventures.


III



Action of the fluids in reincarnation


Since the fluids are the agents that drive our corporeal vehicle they are also the elements of our aspirations for there are material as there are spiritual fluids and all elevating and tending to reunite to fluids of same nature. These are the fluids that form the spiritual body of the Spirit that while incarnate acts through those fluids upon the human machine that must be perfected by the Spirit for everything is work in creation, everything concurs to the general advancement.



The Spirit has its free-will and always seeks what is pleasant and satisfying. If it is an inferior and material Spirit it then seeks the satisfaction of material things, then giving an impulse to material fluids that will dominate but will always tend to grow and evolve materially. The aspirations of that incarnate Spirit are then material in nature and later on after returning to the spiritual world the same Spirit will seek a new incarnation to satisfy the material needs and desires because lo and behold material aspirations cannot require but material satisfaction whereas spiritual aspirations cannot be associated to sensations of the Spirit. Those material sensations will be demanded by the fluids that were allowed to be materialized and since during the incarnation the fluids act to attract the Spirit to the body that was formed with attraction and union of fluids, reincarnation then takes place in conditions that will satisfy the aspirations of preceding existences.



There are spiritual as there are material fluids if the former dominate. When the spiritual fluids conquer ascendency upon the material fluids the Spirit that now analyzes things differently chooses or is attracted by different sympathies. Since the Spirit needs depuration and that is only achieved by work the chosen incarnations are more painful because after having given supremacy to matter and its fluids the Spirit now needs to constrain it, fight and dominate it. Hence those very painful lives that seem so unfairly imposed to good and intelligent Spirits. They are enjoying their final corporeal phase and as they exit this world they enter superior spheres where their superior aspirations will be satisfied.

IV



Earthly affections and reincarnation


The dogma of indefinite reincarnation finds opposition in the hearts of the incarnate that love because in presence of such infinity of existences and producing links of affection in every one of them one asks what happens to the particular affections and if they don’t mix in an unique general love which would then destroy the persistence of individual affections. The person then asks herself if such individual affection are not only a means of advancement and the person then feels a certain frustration because true affection feels the need for eternal love feeling that one would never feel tired of loving. The simple thought of having thousands of identical affections seems an impossibility even when admitting greater capacity for love.

The serious student of Spiritism without the preconceived idea of a system in detriment of another one, feels attracted to reincarnation for the justice that follows the progress and advancement of the Spirit at each new existence. Nonetheless when it is studied from the point of view of the affections of the heart one doubts and becomes surprised despite anything else. Since the student cannot conciliate these two feelings she then says that there is still a veil to uncover and her work attracts the lights of the Spirits to appease her heart and her reason.



I have already said that reincarnation stops when materiality is nulled. I showed how material progressed refined the corporeal sensations of the incarnate Spirit; how the spiritual progress that follows had counter the influence of matter and later subordinated it to the will of the Spirit and that arriving at that degree of spiritual domination corporeal life would no longer make sense because the work was done.



Let us now examine the issue of affection based on its material and spiritual aspects.



To begin with, what is affection, love? Still the fluidic attraction that brings people together one to the other, uniting them in a common feeling. Such attraction may be of two different types since the fluids are of two different nature. The attraction can only remain forever if it is spiritual and selfless; abnegation and devotion are needed and not a single feeling of personality may be the drive of such sympathetic attraction. As long as there is personality there is materiality in that feeling; well, no material affection persists in the domains of the Spirit. Therefore every affection that is only the result of animal instinct or egotism is destroyed with earthly death. Thus, how many supposedly loved creatures are forgotten not long after separation! You loved them for yourselves not for them, those that no longer live, because you have forgotten and replaced them; you sought consolation by forgetting and they became indifferent because you no longer love them.



Observe humanity and see how few true affections do exist on Earth! Thus, one should not be so much surprised by the large number of affections that are found. True affections are in a relative minority but they do exist and those that are real persist and perpetuate in all forms, first on Earth and later in the spiritual state in a through friendship or in an unchanged love that grows continually.



Let us study true affection: the spiritual love.


The foundation of true love is a fluidic spiritual attraction that determines empathy by itself. In that case it is the soul that loves the soul and the power of such love is manifested by the feelings of the soul. Two souls that are united spiritually seek one another and always tend to get together. Their fluids attract one another. If they are on the same planet that are impelled to one another. If separated by earthly death their thoughts unite in their memories and the reunion takes place at the freedom of their sleep and when it is time for the reincarnation of one of them that Spirit will try to be closer to the friend, entering the material affiliation and that will be easier the more affinity they find with the material fluids of the perispirit of those that will give birth to the new being. Hence an adder of affection, a new manifestation of love. Such a friendly Spirit that loved you as a father will also love you as a son, brother or a friend and each one of those links with strengthen from incarnation to incarnation and will remain forever when the work is done and you live the life of the Spirit.



But such true affection is not common one Earth and matter happens to delay it, nulling its effect depending on how the Spirit is dominated by matter. Since true friendship and love are spiritual everything that relates to matter does not belong to its nature consequently not contributing to the spiritual identification. Affinity remains but stays in a latent state until the time when there is prevalence of the spiritual fluid and progress of empathy.



In short, spiritual love is the only that remains in the domains of the Spirit. It concurs to the moral advancement of the incarnate Spirit both on Earth and in the regions of corporeal work, and the Spirit under the influence of empathy carries out miracles of abnegation and devotion towards the beloved ones. Here in the celestial dwellings, it is the complete satisfaction of all aspirations and the greatest happiness that the Spirit can enjoy.



V


Progress hindered by indefinite incarnation


Up to this point reincarnation has been considered too much prolonged. It was not considered that such extension of corporeal life, although less and less material, would nonetheless lead to necessities that would block the advancement of the Spirit. In fact by admitting the persistence of procreation in the superior worlds material needs are attributed to the incarnate Spirits; still material duties and occupations that imprison and refrain their spiritual impulses. What are the needs for such barriers? Can’t the Spirit enjoy the happiness of love without enduring corporeal diseases? Even on Earth such a feeling does exist irrespective of the material part of our being. However rare they may be there is a sufficient number of examples to demonstrate that it must be felt more frequently amongst more spiritualized creatures.



Reincarnation determines the union of bodies. Pure love just determines the union of souls. The Spirits unite according to the affections they developed in inferior worlds and work together towards their spiritual progress. They have a fluidic organization completely different from the one that was consequence of their corporeal structure and their works operate upon fluids and no longer onto material objects. They reach spheres that have completed their material cycles; spheres in which human activity has determined dematerialization and that once achieved the apogee of their betterment have also gone through a superior transformation now in position to experience still other changes but in an entirely fluidic sense.



You now understand the immense power of fluids, a strength that you can feel but cannot see or touch. In a lighter state than the one you are placed now you will have other means of seeing, touching and working that fluid, a great agent of universal life.



Why then would the Spirit still have the need to enter a body for a kind of work that is beyond corporeal appreciation? You will say that the body is in relation to the new activities that the Spirit must carry out but considering that such a work is entirely fluidic and spiritual in superior spheres why then give the Spirits the embarrassment of the corporeal needs? As I said, reincarnation always determines the need for procreation and feeding that is needs of matter to be satisfied and barriers to the Spirit on another hand.



You must understand that the Spirit must be free in the flight towards infinity; that leaving the cradles of matter the Spirit, like the child, wishes to walk and run and not be stopped by kid’s walking toys and that those first needs of the first education are superfluous to a grown up child and unbearable to a teenager.



You must not wish to remain in your infancy. Look at yourselves as students that go through their finals preparing to enter the world to find their places and begin another type of work facilitated by their earlier studies. Spiritism is the lever that will strongly yang every incarnate soul to the spiritual state, every soul that wishes to understand and practice it, dominating matter and becoming its matter, annihilating it. Everyone that in good will wishes to move to such a spiritual state, after leaving this world, without returning to Earth may conquer that. Spiritism provides that to all that want to understand it in its moralizing sense.



Protector Spirit of the medium


OBSERVATION: This communication has no other signature but the one above, proving that it is not necessary to have had a celebrity name on Earth to be able to dictate good things. It is possible to notice the analogy between the communications given in Sens earlier on with the first part of this one; the latter is certainly more advanced but the fundamental idea about the need for reincarnation is the same. We mentioned both to show that the great principles of the Doctrine are taught in several places and that is how the unit of Spiritism will consolidate. Such agreement is the best criterion of truth.



Now, it is noticeable that exotic and systematic theories dictated by pseudo wise Spirits are always restricted to a small and individual circle and that being the reason why none has prevailed. That is also why there is no reason to fear them since they only have transient influence that fades away like a weak flame before the clarity of daylight. Regarding the last communication it would be superfluous to point out to its reach in form and content. It can be summarized as this:



Considered from the point of view of progress the life of the Spirit presents three main periods, as:



1.Material period, in which the influence of matter dominates that of the Spirit. That is the state of people given to brutal and carnal passions and sensuality; in which aspirations are exclusively earthly, associated to temporal possessions or refractory to spiritual ideas.

2.Equilibrium period, in which both material and spiritual influence occur simultaneously; in which people, although still chained to material needs, foresee and understand the spiritual state, working to leave the material state.



In the two periods above the Spirit is subjected to reincarnation that takes place in inferior and mid-level worlds.



3.Spiritual period in which the Spirit has completely dominated matter and no longer needs incarnation or material work. The work is now entirely spiritual. That is the state of the Spirits in superior worlds.



The easiness with which certain persons accept the Spiritist ideas that they seem to have an intuition about indicates that they belong to the second period; but there are many steps between this one and the previous ones, steps that are transposed the faster the closer the Spirit is to the spiritual period. That is how the Spirit can move from a material world like Earth and inhabit a superior one like Jupiter, if the moral and spiritual progress of that Spirit is sufficient to wave its passage through intermediary levels. It is then up to us to leave Earth for good, like a world of atonement and trial or to come back only on a mission.

A new media about Spiritism has just been inaugurated in Antwerp, since January 1^st, 1864. It is well-known that the Spiritist Doctrine makes fast progress in that city where numerous groups were formed by distinguished people for their knowledge and social position. Brussels has been reluctant for a longer period but there the new idea also gains space like in other cities of Belgium. We were invited to accept the title of honorific president of a recently formed society there. That shows the path they want to follow.



The first issue of the new Review contains an appeal to the Spiritists of Antwerp; two supporting articles one about the adversaries of Spiritism and another about Spiritism and madness and a certain number of mediumistic communications, some in Flemish, and we are pleased to say that everything in perfect alignment with the view point and principles of the Parisian Society. That publication must be welcomed in a country that knowingly receives well and propagates new ideas if, as we expect, if these ideas remain at the level of science, an essential condition of success.



Spiritism grows and daily sees new horizons opening before its eyes. It deepens questions and issues that were only blossoming since its origin. The Spirits have followed this upwards movement everywhere by accommodating their teachings to the development of the ideas in their instructions. When compared to the current mediumistic production of today the former ones are faded versions, almost puerile, although they were considered magnificent in their time. It is the difference between the lessons given to an adult as compared to those given to young students. As people grow their intelligence like their body require more substantial nourishment. Every Spiritist publication, periodical or non-periodical that remained back would necessarily find little sympathy and it would be unrealistic to suppose that contemporary readers would be interested in elemental or mediocre things. However good the intention might be every recommendation would be powerless to keep them alive if they did not have a life of their own. There is another condition for the success of such publications, even more important, that is to walk with the opinion of the majority. At the beginning of the Spiritist manifestations the still not fixated ideas gave rise to many divergent opinions that fell before more comprehensive observations or that just count with rare representatives. Everybody knows the flag and the principles followed by the majority of the Spiritists around the world. The one that becomes an echo of backward opinions or that follows the wrong path is heretofore condemned to isolation and abandonment. We are sorry for those that did it in good faith; those that premeditated with the intention of blocking the development and sowing division will only harvest shame. Neither ones nor the others can be encouraged by those that understand from the top of their heads the true interests of Spiritism. As for ourselves, personally, and for the Parisian Society, the sympathies and moral support are conquered by anticipation, as it is widely known, by all the publications and all useful meetings to the cause that we defend.

By Father Blot, Company of Jesus^[1]


One of our corresponding members, Dr. C…, mentioned this book to us, writing the following:



“For some time now, words that I abstain from using as a Christian and as a Spiritist, have been pronounced many times by persons that have the mission of speaking about charity and mercy. To alleviate it from the painful impression that they may have caused you as to every true Christian, allow me to talk about a small book from Father Blot. I don’t believe him to be a Spiritist but I found in his work that Spiritism lead people to love God and wait for his mercy as there are many other passages that closely resemble what is taught by the Spirits.”



We point out the following passages that confirm the opinion of our correspondent:



“In the VII century Pope St. Gregory, the Great, after having told the story that a religious person saw the prophets before his eyes when he died and designated them by their names, added: - This example clearly shows us how important is the acknowledgement that we will have with respect to one another in the incorruptible life of heavens, for that religious person, still in a corruptible flesh, recognized the sacred prophets that he had never seen before. The saints see one another as required by the unity of the kingdom and the unity of the place where they live in the company of God. The spontaneously reveal to one another their thoughts and feelings like people in the same house that are united by a sincere love. Among their co-inhabitants of heavens they even know those that they did not know down here and the knowledge of the good deeds leads them to a more thorough knowledge of those that carried them out (Berti, De theologicis disciplinis).



Have you lost a son or a daughter? Receive the consolations given by a Patriarch of Constantinople to a heartbroken father. That Patriarch can no longer be counted among the great men or saints. It is Photios the author of the cruel schism that separates the East from the West but his words only demonstrate that the Greek think like the Latin about this point: - If you daughter appeared to you; if she rested her hand on yours and head on your head and if she spoke with you wouldn’t she describe heavens to you? She would then add: - Why suffer oh my father? I am in paradise where happiness is boundless. One day you will join me with my dear mother and you will then acknowledge that I was right about this place of enjoyment for reality is beyond my words.”



The good Spirits can therefore manifest, be seen and touch the living ones, speak with them, describe their own situation, console and strengthen the loved ones. If they can speak and take their hands why wouldn’t they be able to write? Father Blot says: - The Greek think like the Latin about this point. Why the Latin today say that such a power is only given to the devil to deceive people? The following passage is even more explicit:



“St. John Chrysostom said in one of his homilies to his followers about St. Mathews: - Would you like to see those that were taken by death? Follow their lives on the path of virtue and you will soon enjoy that sacred vision. However, would you like to see them here? Well, what is it that blocks you? You are allowed to do that and it is easy to achieve if you are prudent because hopes in future assets is clearer than life itself.”



Flesh cannot see what is purely spiritual. Hence if they can see the Spirits it is because there is a material and accessible part to our senses. It is the fluidic envelope that Spiritism calls perispirit. After a citation by Dante about the state of the blessed ones, Father Blot adds:



“Hence this is the principle of solution to the objections: - In heavens, less of a place than a state, everything is light and love.”



Therefore heavens is not a circumscribe place. It is the state of the happy souls. Wherever they are happy they are in heavens that is everything is light, love and intelligence to them. That is what the Spirits say.



On the occasion of the death of his friend, Duke of Beauvilliers, Fénelon wrote the following to the Duchess: “It is not only feelings and imagination that lost their objective. The one that we can no longer see is amongst us more than ever. We meet him all the time in our common nucleus. He sees us there and helps us. From there he knows better about our diseases, he that no longer has his own; he begs for the remedies to our cure. As for myself that did not see him for a long time I speak with him and open my heart to him.”



Fénelon also wrote to the widow of the Duke of Chevreuse: “Let us unite in our hearts to the one that we cry for. He has not moved away from us because he became invisible. He sees us, he teaches us and he is touched by our needs. He has fortunately arrived at the port and he now prays for us that are still here, exposed to the wreckage. He tells us with a smooth voice: “Hurry up to be able to join us. The pure Spirits see, understand and always love their true friends in their common nucleus. Their friendship is immortal like their source. The non-believer only love themselves. They should be desperate on losing their friends forever. Nonetheless the divine friendship converts the visible society into a society of pure faith. It cries but by crying if finds consolation in the hope of meeting their friends again in the country of truth and at the heart of love itself.”





In order to justify the title of his book: We recognize one another in heavens Father Blot cites a large number of passages by holy writers about apparitions and several manifestations that demonstrate reunion of loved ones after death; the existing relationships between the dead and the living ones; the help they provide mutually through prayer and inspiration. It never mentions eternal separation, consequence of eternal condemnation, or devils or even hell. On the contrary it shows the souls of miserable individuals freed by the power of regret and prayer and by the mercy of God. Had Father Blot said anathema against Spiritism it would be against his own book and against all the saints whose testimonies are invoked by him. Whatever his opinion is about this one can say that if they had always preached like that there would be less skeptics.

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[1] Paris, 1863, 1 small volume. Price 1fr at Poussielgue-Rusand Bookstore, Rue Cassette, 27.

By Mr. Armand Durantin^[1]


Spiritism has found its place among the beliefs. If it is still a reason of mockery to some writers one notices that to some of those that ridiculed it in the past mockery has lowered its voice before the antecedent of the general opinion, they now limiting to cite the facts related to Spiritism without comments or with careful restrictions. Others, not positively believing in Spiritism, and even without knowing it in depth, consider the idea too important to find matter of fantasy or imagination. Such is the case, as we see it, of the book mentioned above. It is a simple drama based on the Spiritist belief presented from a serious point of view, but that can have some mistakes reproached by us, undoubtedly originated from an incomplete study of the subject.

The author that wishes to create a fictitious story on top of a historical event must, before anything, get to know the truth of the fact to avoid sidetracking history. That is how every author that wishes to take advantage of the Spiritist idea must proceed, be it for not being accused of ignorance about what they portray or to conquer the sympathy of followers, today in large numbers to tilt the scale of public opinion and concur to the success of every work that, directly or indirectly, is related to their belief.

Made the reservation from the point of view of orthodoxy, the work in consideration will not be less read with great interest by the followers as well as by the adversaries of Spiritism and we thank the author for the gracious tribute made to us in his book that has come to popularize the new idea. We will mention the passages below that mention the Doctrine more specifically.



“At the time when Mr. Boursonne (one of the leading roles in the romance) had lost his wife a mystic doctrine was spreading quietly and slowly in the shadows. It still counted on a low number of followers but it had the great aspiration of replacing the several Christian cults. It still needs persecution to become a powerful religion. That doctrine is Spiritism, so eloquently exposed by Mr. Allan Kardec in his remarkable book The Spirits’ Book. Count de Boursonne was one of its most keen followers. I will only say a few words about that doctrine to allow the non-believers to understand that the Count’s power was entirely natural.

The Spiritists acknowledge God and the immortality of the soul. They believe that Earth is a place of transition and trial. According to them the soul is initially place on an inferior planet by God. The soul lives there in a more or less dense body until it is depurated enough to migrate to a superior world. That is how, after long migrations and several trials, the souls finally get to perfection, then living at the heart of God. It is then up to the human being to abbreviate pilgrimages and arrive more rapidly to the Lord by improving themselves more rapidly.

It is a touching belief of Spiritism that the more perfect souls may communicate with the Spirits. Thus, according to the Spiritists, we can talk to our lost loved ones if our soul is perfected enough to hear them and be heard by them. It is then the more perfected persons among us that can serve as intermediaries between common people and the Spirits. Those agents, as much ridiculed by skepticism as admired by the believers are called mediums in the Spiritist language. Having said that it is important to mention that the Spiritist Doctrine now counts on many thousands followers, in particular in large cities, and that Count de Boursonne was one of their most powerful mediums.”

Here there is a first big mistake. If one needed to be perfect to communicate with the Spirits very few would have such privilege. The Spirits communicate even with those that are seriously behind, precisely to motivate them to improve through their advices, according to these words by Jesus: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick”. (Luke 5:31) Mediumship is a faculty that depends on the physical organization more or less developed, according to the individuals, but that can be given to the least virtuous, then subjected to punishment if the person do not take advantage of that or if the faculty is abused. The moral superiority of the medium ensures the sympathy of the good Spirits, turning the medium apt to receive instructions of a higher level but the facility to communicate with the beings of the invisible world directly or through third party is given to each one for their advancement. That is what the author would know had he carried out a more in-depth study of the Spiritist science.

“Modern science demonstrated that everything is interconnected. Therefore, in the physical world, from the minute aquatic creatures and mankind, that is its highest expression, there is a chain of creatures successively improved, as abundantly demonstrated the discoveries of geologists. Well, the Spiritists ask themselves why such a chaining would not happen in the spiritual world as well; the question why such a blank between man and God, as Mr. Le Verrier asked himself how could it be possible that a single planet would be missing in a given place in the skies, given the harmonious laws that govern our still incomprehensible and unknown world. Guided by the same thought that led the eminent director of the Paris Observatory to his wonderful deduction the Spiritists then recognized immaterial creatures between mankind and God, before having the hard proof that was only acquired later on.”

There is here an equally important mistake. Spiritism was led to its theories by the observation of the facts and not by a preconceived system. The thought mentioned by the author was certainly rational but it was not the way how things happened. The Spiritists concluded that the Spirits existed because the Spirits manifested spontaneously. They indicated the law that governs the relationships between the visible and the invisible world because they observed those relationships. They admitted the progressive hierarchy of the Spirits because the Spirits were presented to them in all levels of advancement. They adopted the principle of the plurality of the existences not only because it was taught by the Spirits but because that principle results, as a law of nature, from the observation of facts that are before our eyes. In short, Spiritism admitted nothing under the assumption of hypothesis. Everything in the Doctrine is the result of experience. That is all that we have repeated many times in our works.

-o-



We find the below warning useful to all interested parties:

Whenever a letter is received our first action is to verify the signature. In the absence of signature or sufficient identification the letter meets the trash can, without being read, even if signed as: one of our subscribers, one Spiritist, etc. The latter having even less reason to remain incognito than the other ones as far as we are concerned, being that the very reason why the origin of the letters becomes suspicious and why we don’t even take notice of their letters since the authentic correspondence is large enough and sufficient to absorb our attention. The person in charge of doing their classification has our explicit recommendation to reject without examination every letter that is in the aforementioned condition.

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[1] A 12-in volume. Price 3 francs. Dentu Bookstore and Central Bookstore, Blvd. des Italiens, 24