Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1865

We got this in a letter from Dieppe:

“…Dear Sir, I believe that we come to a time in which unbelievable things are to happen. I do not know what to think of a phenomenon that just took place in my house. Given the current skepticism of our days I would dare not speak to anyone about it for I fear to be taken by a mad person. But, dear Sir, even at the risk of making you laugh I would like to tell you about the fact. Although apparently futile, it may perhaps
be more serious after all. My poor son, deceased in Boulogne-sur-Mer where he carried out his studies, had a charming little greyhound given to him by some friends and that we had trained with extreme care. It was the most adorable little creature of that breed. We did love her very much as anything beautiful and good can be loved. She understood us from our gestures and looks. She showed such a vivacity in her eyes that it seemed that she would respond back to us when we talked to her.

After the death of the young owner, the little Mika – her name – was brought back to me in Dieppe and according to her habits she would sleep by the feet of my bed. In the winter, with the inclement weather, she would stand, produce a sweet groan as if asking for something; I would then invite her closer, allowing her to be with me. She would then tuck in between two pieces of cloth and stick her nose into under my neck that she used as her pillow; she would then sleep like the fortunate ones on Earth, feeling the warmth of my body and allowing me to feel hers and that was not unpleasant to me. The poor little one spent happy days with me. She missed nothing but last September she fell sick and died, despite everything that was done by the vet that I had assigned to her. My wife and I frequently talked about her, missing her almost as much as if a child of ours, for the amount of fidelity and affection that she had intelligently and kindly given us.

A short while ago I heard, in the middle of the night, in bed but not asleep, from the feet of my bed, that little groaning that my dear little dog used to do when she wanted something. I was so shocked that I reached out with my arm as if calling her, truly believing that I would feel her caress. When I woke up in the morning I told the story to my wife who said: I heard the same thing, not once but twice. It seemed to come from the door of the room. My first thought was that our little dog was not dead and that it had escaped from the vet’s house, returning to her own home. My sweet daughter that sleeps near her mom also affirm to have heard the same groaning. The sound to her was not coming from the door but from the bed itself near the door. I must say dear Sir that my wife’s bedroom is above mine. Would such strange sounds come from the street, as my wife believes since she does not share my Spiritist ideas? That is impossible. If they came from the street I would not be able to hear them since I am going deaf and even at night I cannot hardly hear the sound of a passing-by carriage. During a storm I don’t hear the sound of a thunder. On another hand if the sound came from the street how can we explain the fact that my wife heard it from the other side of the house and my daughter from her bed? I confess, dear Sir, that although these events refer to an irrational being, they make me think indeed. What to think about it? I cannot make up my mind and cannot elaborate much more. But I ask myself if the immaterial principle that must outlive the animals as it does to men, wouldn’t acquire the faculty of communication with human souls, up to a certain degree. Who knows! Do we know all secrets of nature? Evidently not. Who can explain the law of affinities? The laws of repulsion? Nobody! If affection that is in the domain of feelings, as feelings are in the domain of the soul, has an attractive power in itself, what would be the surprise if a little animal were be dragged by its own affection in the immaterial state? But some may ask how about the sound? How can that be admitted? And if one can hear that once, twice why not every day? Such an objection may seem serious, however would it be unreasonable to believe that such sounds could be produced by certain combinations of fluids that react in a given direction, like in Chemistry there are certain effervescences, certain explosions that take place due to the mixture of x and y elements? I will not discuss if such a hypothesis has merit or not. I will just say that I believe it to be among possible things and without pushing it any further I say that I attest a fact witnessed by three persons and that if the fact took place it is because it can happen. Besides, we want to give time and wait to hear about other phenomena of the same kind.”

Our honorable correspondent does well in not considering the matter definitely resolved. He does not propose an absolute conclusion based on a unique event which, in fact, is just a probability. He observes and attests, waiting for further enlightenment. That is what prudence requires. Facts of such a kind are not yet in significant numbers nor sufficiently demonstrated so that one can deduce a positive or negative theory from them. The issue of the principle and fate of the Spirits of the animals just begins to materialize and the event above is essentially related to that. If it is not an illusion, it at least attests the link of affinity that exists among the Spirits of the animals, or better saying, of certain animals and people. As a matter of fact, it seems that it has been positively demonstrated that the animals see the Spirits and are impressed by them. We have reported several examples in the Spiritist Review, among others the Spirit and the Little Dog in our June 1860 issue. If the animals do see the Spirits that evidently cannot be done by the eyes of the body. In that case they also have a spiritual vision.

Up until now science has only attested the physiological relationship between people and the animals. It shows us all the links of the chain in the body, without a solution of continuity. Nonetheless, between the spiritual principles of both Spirits there was an abyss. If the better observed psychological facts lay down a bridge onto that chasm then it will be a new step to the unity of the scale of the beings of creation. Such a serious issue will not be solved by systems but by facts. Spiritism, by creating the experimental psychology, is the only one to provide the means for that. In any case if there are points of contact between the animal soul and the human soul that cannot be, in the case of the soul of the animal, from the part of the most advanced ones. An important fact to be attested is that among the creatures of the spiritual world there has never been an indication that there are Spirits of animals. That seems to indicate that they do not maintain their individuality after death and the manifestation of the little dog above seems to contradict it.

From all the above it can be seen that the issue is still not much understood and its solution must not be hurriedly established. Once the letter above was read at the Parisian Society, the following communication was given about the subject:



Paris, April 21^st, 1865 – Medium Mr. E.Vézy

Tonight I will touch on a serious matter by speaking about the relationships that may exist between the animal world and humanity. In this room, however, when for the first time I taught you about the solidarity that does exist between all existences and the affinities among them there was an uproar here and I went silent. Should I do the same today, despite your question? No, because I finally see you entering the path that I showed you. But it is not at all limited to the belief in the unstoppable progress of the Spirit, an embryo in matter, developing through the sieve of the mineral, vegetal and animal, arriving at humanity where it begins to proudly test the soul that will reincarnate and carry out its mission with the human race. Between those multiple phases there are important links that must be understood and that I call latent or intermediary periods because it is when the successive transformations take place. Later I will talk about the links that unit the mineral to the vegetal and the vegetal to the animal. Since the subject that caught your attention is the bonds between the animal and mankind I will now discuss this matter.

The affinity between domesticated animals and people is produced by the fluidic charges that surround you and involve them. It is somewhat like humanity influencing the animal world, not affect the colors of one or the other. Hence the superior intelligence of the dog against the brutal instinct of the wild animal and that is the only cause that may explain the manifestations that were just read to you. Therefore, they were not mistaken when they heard the happy sounds of the animal, acknowledging the love of its owner, coming to bring them a memory before transitioning to the intermediary state between two phases of development. Thus, the manifestation may occur but it is momentarily because in order to move up another step the animal needs a latent work that eliminates any sign of exterior life to all of them. That is like a spiritual cocoon where the soul is elaborated, a shapeless perispirit, without any trace of a material body, breaking up in a mature state, dragged by the carrying currents, like the embryos of souls that will blossom from that. It would, therefore, be difficult to us to talk about the Spirits of animals because they do not exist, or even better, their passage is so fast that it is like it was null, and they could not be described in their state of chrysalis. You know already that nothing dies from succumbing matter. When a body dissolves it breaks into the multiple composing elements. Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon return to their primitive state to feed other bodies. The same happens to the spiritual body: during the passage, the organized spiritual fluids take colors, perfume, and instincts, up to the final constitution of the soul. Do you understand that well? I would certainly need to explain all that better but to finish tonight and not allowing you to suppose the impossible, I assure you that what belongs to the domain of animal intelligence cannot reproduce in human intelligence. Their ideas are rudimentary only. In order to express itself as a person would do the animal would need ideas and knowledge that it does not have and it cannot have. Be assured that neither dog, nor the cat, the donkey, the horse nor the elephant may manifest through mediumistic means. The Spirits that arrived at the humanity level, and only them, can do it and still in proportion to their level of development because the Spirit of a savage cannot speak like the one of a civilized person.

OBSERVATION: The late observations by the Spirit were motivated by comments made during the session about people that pretended to have received communications from animals. As an explanation of the fact mentioned above, the theory given by the Spirit is rational and its bottom line is in agreement with the one that prevails today and is given in the majority of the centers. When we have gathered enough documents we will summarize them in a methodical body of doctrine that will be submitted to the universal control. Until then they are only guidelines given to clarify the path.

The logic of the adversaries of Spiritism is well known. The summary below signed by David (from Thiais) gives us a sample of that.

“Dear reader, like myself you must have a copy of the little brochure by Mr. Boreau from Niort with the title Why and How I become a Spiritist, with a facsimile of the autograph of direct writing by a familiar Spirit. It is a very curious story of a sincere, devout man, a person with elevated thoughts but that deifies his illusions and incessantly chases his own dreams and believing to become true. Seeking a buried treasure with Jeanne, the somnambulist, in a former battle field in Vendee, he finds malevolent, noisy Spirits instead, bringing upon him and his companion great fear and painful anguish. He suddenly turns into a Spiritist as if the apparitions that obsess him had renovated the miracle of the wonder lamp and, at the same time, provided all the benefits of the soul and the body.

Fiction needs to be one of the greatest needs of the human mind to make such beliefs possible. There are deceiving geniuses making fun there; cruel Spirits that threat and make noise; rude and bad mouthed Spirits that make us ask what are they doing down here since they were not depurated by the crucible of death?

There are also the verses and poems of a good angel that has not opened up the secrets of heavens with her poetry, demonstrating to us how far a preconceived idea may take us on the path of illusions. When it comes to Spiritism Mr. Boreau’s faith is like that of the coalman; he even loves those that bother and bash him. We have nothing to add other than the fact that the brochure contains funny episodes, demonstrating that he can go without other Spirits since his own suits him very well. We only say that the facts that he reports are not form yesterday.

We still remember the commotion that took over the city of Poitiers when the house at Rue St. Paul had its formidable artillery heard. A long procession of curious people surrounded that home haunted by the devil for eight days; the police established its headquarters there stalking the flight of the Spirits, taking their chances to catch the secrets of the other world by surprise but only finding fire. The Spirits only reveal themselves to the believers, making all the noise of the world (Spiritist Review, February, March and May 1864). That is strange, dear reader. It seems that those regions have the monopoly of that noisy and mockery lot.

Gorre, a renowned German doctor deceased in 1836, in the Vol. III of his Mystique, tells the story of Guillaume d’Auvergne, deceased in 1249, bishop of Paris, that in those days reported a rapping Spirit that had moved in to a house in the neighborhood of St. Paul in Poitiers; it was about a Spirit that threw stones and broke glasses.

Pierre Mamoris, professor of theology in our University, author of Flagellum Maleficorum, reports the events that took place in 1447 at St. Paul Rd., at a house in which the Spirit dragged furniture, broke glasses and even gently hit people, without revealing how all that was done.

The story goes that Jean Delorme, priest of St. Paul, a man of great education and regard, visited the theater of those strange events and accompanied by other persons he carried lit candles and sprinkled Gregorian water to exorcize the rooms. But the exorcism proved useless. Not a single demon showed up. The malignant Spirit, however, no longer manifested after that.^[1]

Therefore, with a few centuries of interval, the same Spiritist phenomena take place three times in the same town and neighborhood. What can we conclude from that? Absolutely nothing. In fact, there is not a single important consequence resulting from useless noises, from puerile jokes or regrettable acts of violence that evidently cannot be attributed to Spirits, weightless bodies that float around the world, certainly avoiding human diseases and continuously approaching the light and God’s benevolence.

As a matter of fact this issue is not for discussion. Every person is free to choose their own Spirits and worship them as they wish, give them the virtues they will, a power and a character that are in agreement with their own beliefs. Instead of the geniuses somewhat material of the modern school we prefer the creations that stem out of the old poetry and that shake hands, walking side by side with the human fraternity at the border between the two worlds, bringing them closer to the sources of immortal life and endless happiness. To us no single rapping Spirit is worth these adorable images painted by the genius of Ossian, on the fluid clouds of the North, whose melancholic harps still vibrate the inner most fibers of the heart. It is the flight of the soul relieving its wings from any heavy load.”

We must thank the author of this article for letting us know about this remarkable event that we were not aware of, about the same phenomenon that has been reproduced for centuries in the same place. That could not be unsuspectedly better to our cause since he pretends to use such a repetition as an argument against the manifestations. It seems to us that when a fact is unique and isolated there is no absolute consequence that may be deduced since it may be due to an eventual cause whereas when it repeated in identical circumstances it follows that it must be due to the same cause, that is, a law. The search for such a law is the duty of any serious observer since it may lead to important findings.

It is, up to a certain extent, understandable that despite the duration, the special character and accessory circumstances of the noises in Poitier, some people persisted in the idea that they were originated by malevolence. But then, if that is the third time that they take place, separated by centuries, there is certainly food for thought because if they are not in good faith it is highly unlikely that they would have chosen precisely the same place to occur with such long intervals. Nonetheless, what can we conclude from that?

The author says: absolutely nothing. That is to say, if something happens repeatedly and touches a whole population several times there is nothing to learn from that? That would be a truly singular madness! These are “useless noises, from puerile jokes or regrettable acts of violence that evidently cannot be attributed to Spirits, weightless bodies that flow around the world, certainly avoiding human diseases and continuously approaching the light and God’s benevolence.” Mr. David then believes in the Spirits since he describes their attributes with such accuracy. Where has he taken such knowledge from? Who told him that the Spirits are like that? Has he studied them to solve the issue like that?

He says that “they must escape human diseases.” The bodily illnesses, undoubtedly, but the moral ones as well? Will he believe that the bad person, the murderer, the bandit, the worst of all evils and himself will be on the same level when Spirits? What benefit can they take from being honest in life if they will be the same after death? Considering that the Spirits approach light and God’s benevolence continuously, something that is perhaps truer that the author actually believes, then there was a time when the Spirits were further away because in order to approach an objective one must be distant first. Where was the starting point? This cannot be but in opposition to perfection, that is imperfection. The Spirits that make fun of similar things cannot certainly be perfect but if there are imperfect Spirits where is the surprise with similar actions? Since the float around the world will it follow that they cannot get closer? It would be useless to carry on with this refutations. The arguments of our adversaries, all more or less with the same strength, would not have taken us to transcribe the article if they did not carry a precious teaching, for which we again thank the author.

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[1] See brochure by Mr. Bonsergent, Imperial Library.

The readers undoubtedly remember the interesting studies about the Spirits of living persons published in the Spiritist Review, January and March 1860, to which Count of R… and Dr. Vignal were submitted. The later one has been away for several years and died on March 25^th last. On the eve of the funerals we asked a very lucid somnambulist that could see the Spirits if he could see him. He then said: “I see a cadaver upon which there is an extraordinary work taking place. It is like an agitating body, as if something was struggling to detach from that body, just having to overcome the resistance. I cannot see a well-defined shape of a Spirit.” On March 31^st he was evoked at the Society in Paris. The same somnambulist attended the session and fell asleep during the activities. He then saw and described the Spirit perfectly well while communicating with a medium of his choice.

We say medium of his choice because experience demonstrates the inconvenience of trying to impose a medium to a Spirit that may not find the necessary conditions for the free communication. When the evocation of a Spirit occurs for the first time it is convenient that all mediums that are present be prepared for their manifestation. There were eleven mediums at that session.

Question – Dear Mr. Vignal, all of your former colleagues at the Parisian Society kept their best memories of yours and myself, in particular, the best relationship that was not broken between us. By calling you to our session we intend to testify our sympathy to you and would be very glad if you could kindly come and communicate with us.

Answer – Dear friend and honorable professor, your memory and sympathy are very dear to me. If I can come to attend this session with you today, free and detached, with all these friends and Spiritist brothers, it is thanks to your good thoughts and the assistance of your prayers that brought me here. As my young secretary correctly said I was impatient to communicate. I employed all the strength of my soul to dominate myself since the beginning of this evening. Your conversations and the serious matters that were discussed made my wait less painful given the interest they attracted. Forgive me, dear friend, but my recognition had to be manifested.

Note: As soon as the medium detected that it was Mr. Vignal he really felt the need that the Spirit had to communicate.

Q – To begin with, kindly tell us about your situation in the spiritual world. At the same time please describe the work of separation, your sensations and how long did it take for you to be aware of yourself.

A – I feel as happy as one can be when we see the realization of every secret thought about this reassuring and healing doctrine. I am happy! Yes, I am because now I see before my eyes and without any obstacle the future of the Spiritist science and philosophy. For the moment let us keep aside such uncalled for essays. I shall come back to this matter, knowing that my presence gives you the same pleasure that I feel with you. The separation was really quick, faster than I could expect with my little merit. I was powerfully helped by you and your somnambulist gave you a very clear idea of the phenomenon of separation, making it unnecessary for me to insist on that. It was a kind of discontinued oscillation, with a movement in two opposing directions. The Spirit succeeded since I am here. I only left the body completely when it was laid down on the ground. I am back with you.

Q – What is your impression of your funeral services? I felt the need to be with you, like a duty. Were you sufficiently detached at that moment and have our prayers reached you at that time?

A – Yes. As I said, your assistance helped with a seamless transition and here I am with you, completely abandoning the old cocoon. Material things do not have much importance to me, as you know. I only thought of God and the soul.

Q – Do you remember your own request about five years ago, in 1860, when we did a study about you, when still alive? At that time your Spirit separated to come to talk to us. Can you describe, as much as possible, the difference that exists between your current detachment and the separation at that time?

A – Yes, certainly. I do remember. But what a difference between my state then and now! At that time matter still restricted me with its inflexible system; I wanted to separate in a more absolute terms but could not. Today I am free. A vast field, that of the unknown, unfolds before my eyes, and I expect, with your help and that of the good Spirits, to whom I entrust myself, to advance and to penetrate as soon as possible the atmosphere of feelings that I must experiment, and the actions that I must carry out to succeed and deserve the rewards. It is majestic! It is great! It is almost an astonishment that takes us over when we face sublime clarities!

Q – On another occasion we shall have the pleasure to continue our conversation as you wish.

A – I responded your questions succinctly and not following a given order. Do not expect much yet from your faithful disciple, for I am not completely free yet. Talk to you even further would be reason for my own happiness. My guide moderates my enthusiasm and I have already learned about his goodness and fairness to submit entirely to his will, however much I may feel sorry for being interrupted. I have the consolation of being able to come many times incognito to attend your sessions. I will speak with you many times; I love you and want to demonstrate that. But other more advanced Spirits request priority and I must appreciate the opportunity given to me to express the torrent of thoughts that were accumulated. I leave you now friends, and must thank you both, not only the Spiritists that called me but also this Spirit that allowed me to take his place and that when alive used the name Pascal. From the one that was and will always be your most dedicated follower. – Dr. Vignal.

Note: In fact the Spirit Pascal gave then the communication that follows later in this issue with the title Intellectual Progress.

Mr. Salgues sent us his brochure Confusion in Satan’s Empire, announced in our previous issue and with that he added the following letter that we have the pleasure to publish with his authorization. Everyone will be able to, like ourselves, assess the feelings expressed there.

Angers, March 9^th, 1865

“Dear Sir. and brother in God,

It is under the impression caused by the reading of the communications given by the Spirits of Mrs. Foulon and Mr. Demeure (Spiritist Review, March 1865) that I have the honor of writing to you to express all the pleasure that I found in them, and I can say the much interest frequently produced by your pen. I have just sent you a small brochure that I ask you to accept. To you and to all my readers it will be a very modest piece of work; but an eighty year old man that is going blind out of excessive work and studies, and for that reason incapable of reexamining the writings as I would like to, that old man must count on the indulgence of public opinion.

The Catholic adversaries of pneumatology feed the apostolic fanatics with the opinion that the Spirits are demons, that Satan is a reality, consequently harming the development of good doctrines, like the precious and so reassuring moral teachings of the supposed elves. It is useless that reasonable people deny them out of pure and persistent rejection. It is necessary to prove to the devil phobic with details and circumstances that they are mistaken and that the Christian hell is a myth. That is what led me to write this little book, without any intent of occupying the place of a writer.

As a subscriber to the Spiritist publications of Bordeaux I have just sent an exemplar of my book to each of their authors. Should I do differently with you Sir, whose books I read with great interest since their inception? You may think, however, that I do so timidly because I was an adversary of Spiritism, and not of the much honorable Spiritists. Not in absolute terms but for being dragged to it and for having to repeal a language that was attributed to me for having abused the subscription. I then blocked every criticism, wanting to be friends with everybody. I therefore only want to observe, approach, compare, wait and judge in the silence of my office. I still believe today that we are farm from knowing everything; that with respect to Spiritism as with Spiritualism there would be a place for discussion with the Spirits of certain issues of doctrine that I reserve to myself. With patience we shall all get to the same place, to the absolute happiness of the eternal life. I in fact see Spiritism making people happy everywhere. It is your glorious work and I do my best to stimulate as much as possible the study of the texts that are so spread out today, reassuring morality and religious feelings through a more rational path. Those that are enlightened should, with me, pray for God to give you long days in perfect health. I also believe that he manifested about me through three Spirits that, without having me thinking about it and in three different places, I was told that I would live a long life and that was already eight years ago. It may well be for the fact that I was always zealous and tireless on the propagation of the ideas since 1853 and that, despite my eyes that were greatly sacrificed, I have the strength, the energy, the physical promptness and attitude of a young man, and that my appearance does not reveal my age. Kindly accept, dear brother, my highest admiration and respect with my cordial greetings,”

Salgues



A second letter from Mr. Salgues, dated April 11^th, 1865 contains the following passage:

“A journal to which I had sent a volume of my book made an announcement about it. I had to criticize the author for having called me a ruthless adversary of Spiritism. Given the impression caused by the data provided a short while ago to Victor Hennequin by a bad Spirit, I did fight, in good faith, the doctrine of the reincarnations, but after having acknowledged a large number of spiritualist inconsistences and since I detected certain details in Spiritism that did not captivated my trust, I limited myself to a detailed observation, patiently waiting for the day when, with a more perfect nature, I would be able to acknowledge the truth about our destinies after this material life. With respect to the facts and communications, for the moment I am satisfied with the certainty that there is a second life in the spiritual world.”



Our response

My dear Sir,

I received the letter that you kindly sent me with the brochure that followed for which I thank you so much. I have not had the time to read the book yet but I have no doubt that you gave our adversaries a lot to do. The issue of the devil is the last fighting horse that they hold back but that horse is weak and the rope that keeps all that afloat is worn out and will soon let that boat astray. I am glad, Sir, for the excellent and kind words addressed to me and for finding in your soul the hallmark of moderation and impartiality. I confess that I would be surprised if it were otherwise and that it makes me really happy to see that I was induced in error by false appearances. We may hold different opinions about certain points of the doctrine but it gives me satisfaction to attest that we are united by the principle that “There is no salvation but through charity.

Sincerely yours,

Our colleague Mr. Delanne writes on April 2^nd last:

“Dear master, I met our brothers from Barcelona again. There, like in France, the Doctrine propagates and the followers are passionate and enthusiastic. In a group that I visited I saw worthy competitors of that Mr. Dombre from Marmande. I attested the thorough cure of a lady that suffered from a terrible obsession for at least fifteen years, well before one had heard about the Spirits. Doctors, priests and exorcists, everything had been tried uselessly. Today that mom has gone back home, embraced by her loved ones that constantly thank God for such a miraculous cure. That result needed only two months to be achieved by both the evocation of the obsessing Spirit as well as the collective and sympathetic prayers.

In another session there was the evocation of a Spirit called Joseph that obsessed a driver for eighteen years and that now is about to be cured. I had never before been touched as much by the pain experimented by the patient during the evocation. He starts calmly and then he is suddenly overwhelmed by jerky movements and nervous trembling; he is taken by an invisible enemy, becoming agitated by terrible convulsions; his chest inflates and he seems to suffocate; he then recovers his breath and contorts his body like a serpent, rolls over on the floor, suddenly stands up and hits his own head. He only pronounced broken words, in particular repeated no, no! The lady medium remained in prayer. Soon the invisible lets his prey go for a moment and takes her hand over; he would have hurt her if he was allowed to.

That worst kind of Spirit has been evoked for about fifteen days; he had never, however, declared the reason for his vengeance. After being pressured by me he finally confessed that the so called Joseph had stolen his other half. I made him understand that if he stopped and showed the slightest sign of regret God would allow him to see her again. I do anything for her, he said. Then, repeat: God, forgive my sins. After some hesitation he said: I will try but watch him if I am not allowed to see her. He then wrote: God, forgive my mistakes. Time was critical. What would follow next? We then consulted our guides who said: You did well by placing the whole trust in God and in us; that is the key to bring him to you and later on he will see his loved one; have no fear; it is a promise that will bring him to good.

After that scene Joseph, worn out like a fighter, extenuated by the fatigue, feels bad about the terrible possession of his invisible enemy. Mr. B… then applied energetic magnetic passes that ended up by calming him down completely. May God allow this cure to be as brilliant as the preceding one!

That is what those dear brothers were up to. What energy, conviction and courage are needed to achieve such cures! It is only faith, hope and charity in particular that can surpass similar obstacles and face so fearlessly such kind of terrible adversaries. I was exhausted!

A few days later in Carcassonne I experienced emotions of a different kind. I was visiting Mr. President Jaubert. We have had several manifestations for some time, he said. I will take you to the young lady that is the object of such manifestations. As if on purpose the woman was not feeling well. Her stomach was inflated to the point that she could not dress properly. The guides were consulted and the session postponed to the next day at 8 pm. Mr. C…, a retired Captain, offered his salon to us. It was a large and empty room, with carpet only. There was only a mirror on the fireplace, a chest and chairs; there was no paintings, curtains or cloths; truly, the apartment of a man. We were nine persons in total, all keen followers.

As soon as we moved in a lot of tablets fell noisily in one corner of the room! It would be hard to describe my feelings because the honorability of the attendees and the emptiness of the chosen room were kind of done by design by the Spirits to eliminate any doubt or anything that could be suspicious or a fraudulent maneuver. And despite that prodigy I never stopped watching and examining the walls, asking around if they were part of some kind of plot.

The young lady medium took a pencil and wrote this: - Tell Delanne to place a hand on his stomach and the inflammation will cease. Pray before that – We were all praying then. I was at one end of the room when suddenly another fall of candies happened at the opposite corner from where the first one had occurred. You can imagine our astonishment. I approached the patient; the swelling was much less significant than on the day before. I imposed my hand and it totally disappeared as if magic. I am cured, she said. Her tight dress became loose. It was attested by everyone. We joined our thoughts and thanked the Spirits for such goodness. A third fall of tablets took place. I shall never forget that in my life. Although the other participants were used to such manifestations, they were all amazed. Each one of them has an object that has been given by the Spirits. Mr. Jaubert told me that he had seen his desk moving and lifting several times, without the support of any hands; his hat taken to one place or another in the room. A similar event of instantaneous cure had also been produced some months before, by the hand of Mr. Jaubert.

The young lady medium that is also a very lucid somnambulist, was asleep. I then told her: Do you want to come along to Paris? – Yes. I would like you to go to my house. I see you wife, she said; she is pleasantly lying down and reading. She then described the apartment with great accuracy. Here the conversation she established with my wife: Ma’am, do you know that your husband is with us? – No, but tell my husband to write to me. Low and Behold! I had not seen your son. He is nice. Your wife tells me that she has another very nice son also. Ask her to tell you his age. Nine months, she says. – That is correct.

Since I knew that there was a gathering at your house, dear President, I asked her to go and visit you. She dared not enter given that there was a multitude of people and great Spirits. She described you very well as with several of our colleagues.”

Observation: Let us pay, for starter, a fair tribute of praise to our brothers from Barcelona for their zeal and dedication. As Mr. Delanne says, to carry out such things one needs the courage and perseverance that only faith and charity may give. May they receive here the demonstration of fraternal sympathy from the Parisian Society!

The events in Carcassonne will make the unbelievers smile and they will certainly say that this is a comedy; if not they would say that they are miracles but the times of miracles are over. The response to that is that there isn’t any miracle there and that these are only natural phenomena whose theory they will understand when they take the burden of studying them. That is why we do not take that of explaining it to them. As for the comedy one needs to understand who would have benefited from that representation. Prestidigitation can certainly produce things that are as impressive as those, even the simulated cure of a swollen bladder. But once again, who would benefit from that? One is always strong when capable of opposing the most absolute selflessness to the accusation of charlatanism; this would no longer hold if there were the slightest suspicion of material interest. And also, who would play a role in such a comedy? A young woman from a good family that does not join the spectacle, that does not give sessions at home or elsewhere and does not speak of herself? That is not in the interest of swindlers. Will that be the businesses of the Vice-President of a Court, honorable businessmen and the most honorable officers, all well positioned in society? Can such suspicion reach them? Some will say that yes, this is in the interest of the doctrine and aims at soliciting followers. But wouldn’t that be a strange way of founding a doctrine on pillars of charlatanism and by honest people? But our adversaries do not look closely at this when it comes to contradictions; logic is the least of their concerns.

There is, however, an important point make here. Who was attending the session reported by Mr. Delanne? Was there any nonbeliever that they were trying to convince? No, not one. They were all followers that had already witnessed those facts several times. Would they have then tried to deceive one another by such a deception? However much you try, gentlemen, the Spirits do that in so many ways to attest their presence that those that laugh will definitely not be on our side. You can verify it but the always growing number of followers. Had you found a single serious argument you would not have forgotten that; but you attack precisely the charlatans and exploiters that are never endorsed by Spiritism and with whom we always declare to have nothing in common. You support us there instead of causing us harm. You point out the fraud whenever you find it; we ask for no more. You have never seen us defending them nor supporting those that out of their own weaknesses fell in the hands of justice or placed themselves on the opposite side of the law. Every sincere Spiritist that strictly follows the duties outlined by the doctrine conciliates respect and consideration and has nothing to fear.

On April 15^th last the Siècle reports the following:

“The cases of paralysis and mental alienation have grown in France in direct proportion to the taxation of tobacco. From 1812 to 1832 the resources brought in by tobacco tax amounted to 28 million and the hospices of the alienated counted on 8,000 patients. Today that tax amounts to 180 million and the mentally ill or paralyzed patients sum up to 44,000 in special hospitals.

Those comparisons provided by Mr. Jolly in the last session of the Academy of Sciences must offer food for thought to the lovers of nicotine vapors. Mr. Jolly finished his presentation by this scaring statement to the current generation: - The unrestrained use of tobacco, particularly pipes, results in a brain disease and in the spinal cord that produces madness.”

If it were still necessary to provide a refutation, after everything that was said, to those that pretend that Spiritism fills up the homes of the mentally ill, those numbers would offer an argument without replica since they not only are based on a material fact and a logical scientific principle but also attest that the increase in the number of patients goes back more than twenty years before Spiritism was in the picture.

Well, it is not logical to admit that the effect preceded the cause. The Spiritists are not sheltered from material causes that may affect the brain as well as from accidents that may break arms and legs. There is no surprise then to find Spiritists among the mentally ill. But, side by side with material causes there are the moral ones. It is against the latter that the Spiritists have a strong antidote in their beliefs. Therefore, if one day it is possible to have accurate statistics done without prejudices about the cases of madness from moral reasons one will undoubtedly see the number diminish with the propagation of Spiritism. It will also diminish the number of cases caused by excesses and abuse of alcohol but will not preclude fever and the delirious states caused by disruptions in reason.

It is remarkable the number of educated persons that died mad as a consequence of the abuse of immoderate use of absinth^[1]whose negative effects upon the brain and on the spinal cord are demonstrated today. If those persons had been associated to Spiritism they would say that it was the cause of their disease. As for ourselves, we have no doubt in affirming that had they been seriously involved with Spiritism they would have become more moderate in everything and would not have exposed themselves to those sad consequences of overindulgence.

A similar parallel to the case made by Mr. Jolly could, for the same reason and perhaps more, be made between the proportions of mentally ill persons and the consumption of absinth.

But here is another cause indicated by the Siècle on April 21th, with the following fact:

“The Droit reads: Josephine-Sophie D…, nineteen years old, polish worker, residing with her parents at Rue Bourbon-Villeneuve, used to devour popular novels purchased by the price of five cents. The exaggerated feelings, flamboyant characters and unrealistic events that are generally portrayed is such books had influenced her mind negatively. She thought that she was called up to the highest destines. Her parents that hardly made ends meet and made lots of sacrifices for her education, to her eyes they were poor creatures, incapable of understanding her and to reach out to her at the same level that she had aspired to position herself. Sophie had been given to that kind of thoughts for a long time. Finally acknowledging that there wasn’t any supernatural creature that would take care of her and that her life would go on as it would with the other workers, involved with her job and family affairs, she then decided to end her own life, undoubtedly expecting that her dreams would come true in the next life. Yesterday, in the morning, noticing that she did not show up at work, her sister was sent for her. When she opened the door she was horrified by the scene of her sister hanging from a hook installed on the ceiling towards the back of her bed. She called her parents that promptly cut the rope but every attempt to bring their daughter back to life was useless.”

There we have a cause of madness and suicide caused by the very ones that accuse Spiritism of filling up hospices of the mentally ill. Can romances then exalt imagination to the point that reason is disturbed? A good number of similar cases could be cited, not to mention the mad persons created by fear of the devil against weak souls. But enters Spiritism and everyone tried to make it the scape goat of their own evils.

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[1] Aromatic liqueur with elevated alcohol content, now banned in most western countries (TN)

We have asked you many times to examine the communications that are given to you, submitting them to the crucible of reason, and that you must not take the inspirations that agitate your minds without analysis, under the influence of causes that are sometimes difficult to verify by the incarnate, affected by all sorts of mockery.

Pure ideas that, say, float around (according to Plato’s thoughts) and carried by the Spirits are not always capable of locating themselves alone and isolated onto the minds of your mediums. They frequently find the places occupied by preconceived ideas that are modified by the streams of inspiration, that unconsciously disturb and modify them, that is certain, but sometimes in a very profound way so that the spiritual idea is completely altered.

Inspiration is formed by two elements: thought and the fluidic heat that is supposed to embrace the medium’s soul, providing what you call the verve of composition. If inspiration finds the place occupied by a preconceived idea that the medium cannot or does not wish to separate from then the thought remains without an interpreter and the fluidic warmth is worn out by trying to excite a thought that is not ours. How many times have we come to bring that warmth and the idea to this selfish and passionate world of yours? You neglect the idea that should be acknowledged by your conscience and you use that warmth to the benefit of your own terrestrial passions, sometimes dilapidating God’s benevolence in favor of evil. How accountable will one day be all the defenders of the lost causes!

I would be, no doubt, desirable that the good inspirations could always dominate the preconceived ideas but in that case we would preclude human free-will and people would then escape the responsibility that is theirs. Nonetheless, since we are only the auxiliary advisors of humanity, how many times shouldn’t we congratulate ourselves when our ideas knock on the door of righteous consciences, overcoming preconceived ideas and modifying the conviction of the inspired ones! Make no mistake, however, and rest assured that the bad use of our help may have positive effects. Serious belief establishes a heart to heart connection; simulated conviction may vibrate in sync with passions and have them satisfied but it still carries a particular coldness that leaves a blank in the mind, pointing out to a doubtful origin. Would you like to know where the mediumistic inspiration comes from? The answer is easy: the idea comes from the extra-terrestrial world, directly from the Spirit. As for the fluidic warmth of inspiration, we find and utilize it from you; it is the emanation of the quintessential element of the vital fluid. We sometimes take it from the inspired person herself, when a certain fluidic power (or mediumistic, as you say) is available; we more frequently take it from the environment that surrounds the medium. That is why one can correctly say that sympathy has power.

If you give serious thoughts to that you will find the explanation of many events that may cause surprise at first sight but from which you have a certain intuition. The idea itself would not suffice mankind if the power of expression was not employed. The warmth is to the idea what the perispirit is to the Spirit and what your body is to the soul. Without the body the soul would be powerless to act upon matter; without the warmth the idea would be powerless to touch the hearts.

The conclusion of this communication is that you must never resign to your reason in the examination of the inspirations that you may receive. The more a medium has acquired own ideas the more she is susceptible to preconceived ones; also, the more she must put aside her ideas making room for those that arrive to her and giving her the assurance of a good communication.

Pascal

The preceding is just a preamble to the introduction of other ideas. I talked about preconceived ideas that there are others beyond those that come from the own inclinations of the inspired person; there are those that come from a bad learning, from an interpretation that was given more or less long ago and that were justified in times when human reason was insufficiently developed; those interpretations became chronic and can only be modified through enormous efforts, particularly when their only authority comes from religious teachings and hidden books. One of those ideas is this: God avenges. One may conceive the thought that a person that is attacked in her pride, in her interests avenges. Such vengeance, although wrong, it is within the limits of human imperfection; but a father that seeks vengeance against his own children causes general astonishment because everybody feels that his duty is that of educating his children and therefore guide them and move them away from mistakes and correct their actions by all possible means; vengeance, however, is not acceptable and would even be strange to paternity rights.

From the point of view of public vendetta the society that is disappearing revenges guilty persons; the frequently cruel punishment was its vengeance against a perverse person. There was no concern with rehabilitation of such person and forgiveness or punishment was left to God. It was enough to threaten future offenders with terror that was considered positive.

The oncoming society no longer believes that; it may not yet act in the correction of the criminal but it least it already sees that vengeance is hateful; it is now enough to be protected against the actions of the criminal and measures are taken to avoid legal mistakes. Capital punishment will soon disappear from our codes.

If society today is great enough to avoid vengeance against a criminal, avoiding to be carried away by rage, how come you wish to see God sharing your own weaknesses and hurting a guilty person out of pure wrath? The belief in God’s fury comes from human pride that believes to have a great saying in God’s judgment. If the plant in your garden does not develop well will you become angry and seek vengeance? No; you will do what you can to have it fixed, giving it the necessary support to develop and to avoid deviations, even transplanting it to another location if needed so. But you will not avenge. That is what God does. God’s vengeance, what a blasphemy! What a minimization of God’s greatness! What ignorance about the infinite distance between creation and creature! How can you forget God’s benevolence and justice?

Would God claim a high price from you to be paid for your previous faults in an existence in which you have no memory of the past? No, no. God does not act like that. God precludes the impulse of a bad passion, corrects the inherent pride through a forced humility, fixes the egotism of the past by a present need, leading to the development of a feeling that mankind has not experienced yet. God corrects like a father does and also like a father God does not seek vengeance.

Stay away from these preconceived ideas of heavenly vengeance, disparate remains of an old mistake. Stay away from those fatalist tendencies that abounds amongst new doctrines and that would take you directly to the oriental Quietism. Human freedom is not great enough yet to have it diminished even further by wrong beliefs. The more you feel free the greater your responsibility and the more you shall move forward dragged by the efforts of your own will, on the path of progress.

Pascal

Truth, my friend, is one of those abstractions to which the human mind moves towards all the time but never reaching the target. Such tendency is a necessity for it is one of the pre conditions of progress but the imperfect human nature cannot achieve it. Mankind follows the providential path by moving in the direction of truth but its term cannot be seen.

You shall understand me better when you learn that truth is like time, divided in two parts by the inappreciable moment called present, that is: past and future. There are also two truths, the relative and the absolute. Relative truth is what it is; absolute truth is what it should be. Since what it should be steps up onto levels up to the absolute perfection, that is God, it follows that the creatures only see relative truths in the ascending march of progress. But because a relative truth is not immutable it does not follow that it is less sacred to the creature.

Your laws, your customs and institutions are essentially perfectible and hence they are imperfect for that very reason, but such imperfections do not exempt you from the respect that is due to them. One must not move ahead in time and create laws that are outside of the social organization. Humanity is a collective being that must march at least in groups, if not as a whole, towards future progress. The one that separates from earthly society to walk like a stray child towards new truths always suffer the backlash of impatience.

Let the initiators, inspired by the Spirit of Truth, work to proclaim the laws of the future by submitting you to those of the present. Let God judge when the time is right for a new transition, measuring you by your own efforts to become better, but never breach any law until it is withdrawn.

Do not expect a cataclysm of social institutions just because Spiritism has been revealed to you; up until now it has being working underground and unconsciously to those that are its instruments. Today it blossoms out and sees daylight but the march of progress will still nonetheless be slow and steady.

Be suspicious of impatient Spirits that throw you into the dangerous avenues of the unknown. Your promised eternity must guide you to have pity for the ephemeral ambitions of life. Be always analytical before the voice of the manifesting Spirits. Remember this: mankind always moves under the influence of three factors: thoughts, inspiration and revelation. Your thoughts are the richness of your memories that you voluntarily produce. People find there what is strictly necessary to satisfy the needs of their current stationary position. Inspiration comes from the extraterrestrial minds that are more of less mixed with your own reflections, pushing you to move forward as the better complement given the insufficiency of the present; it is a now force, joining the existing and acquired force, to take you further away from the present; it is the irrefutable proof of a hidden cause that helps you to move ahead and without which you would stay put because that is the moral and physical rule that the effect cannot be greater than its own cause; that is what happens in social progress when an unknown cause adds up to your own efforts.

Revelation is the most elevated of the forces that agitates the human spirit because it comes from God and cannot manifest out of God’s express will; it is rare and sometimes even unnoticed, sometimes obvious to the ones that experience it to the point of involuntarily be taken by a sacred reverence. I repeat, this is rare and ordinarily given as a reward to the sincere faith and devout heart but I repeat do not take by revelation everything that comes to your heart. Humanity brags about the friendship of the great; the Spirits exhibit a special permission from God that they many times lack. Sometimes the Spirits make promises that are not ratified by God because it is only God that knows what needs to be.

That is, my friend, all I can tell you about truth. Humble yourself before the great Being by whom everything lives and moves in the infinity of the worlds that are governed by his power. Believe that if every wisdom, every justice and every power are in God then it is also in God every truth.

Pascal

One must not create systems out of badly conceived and equally badly expressed essays that absolutely change the mediumistic inspiration if that had ever existed at all. I will let others explain the theory of progress since it is useless that all mediums deal with the same subject. I will talk about mediumship, that never ending matter of serious studies and research.

Mediumship is a faculty inherent to human nature. It is neither an exception nor a favor; it is part of the human whole and as such it is subjected to physical variations e moral inequalities; it endures the terrible duality between instinct and intelligence. It has its own geniuses, crowds and abortions.

Those meaningless and shapeless essays must never be attributed to the Spirits, I mean the elevated Spirits, dictations that add the ridicule of being signed by illustrious names. Serious mediumship only takes place with minds that are provided with sufficient instruction or, at least, tested by the trials of the heart. The best mediums are the only ones to connect to the spiritual waves; the others may only feel the material fluidic impulse that drags their hands, not affecting their minds that can only produce what they were capable of doing in their latent state. They must be encouraged to work but not to initiate the crowds in their elucubrations.

The Spiritist manifestations must take place with the greatest reservation. When necessary to protect one’s personal dignity then collect all the necessary proofs of a perfect good-faith regarding physical manifestations, precluding the spiritual communications from the ridicule of being easily associated to systems and ideas undersigned by famous names that are and will continue to be totally alien to such productions. I do not question people’s honesty when they say they receive the influence of the electric shock, confounding it with mediumistic inspiration. Science has its own pseudo-wise men and mediumship its false mediums, in the spiritual order I must clarify.

Here I try to establish the difference between mediums inspired by the spiritual fluid and those that only act by the influence of the corporeal fluid, that is, between those that vibrate intellectually and those whose physical resonance only leads to an unconscious and confusing production coming out of their own ideas, or ideas that are common and without elevation. There is, therefore, a dividing line that is perfectly outlined between the writing mediums: some obeying a spiritual influence that only lead to the writing of useful and elevated things; the others suffering a material influence that only acts upon their organs, like the physical fluids that act upon inert matter. This first classification is absolute but allows for a large number of intermediary variations. I only point out to the main aspects of an important study that other Spirits shall complement. We are the pioneers of the terrestrial progress, in solidarity with one another. In the spiritual phalanx we form the core of the future.

Georges



Observation: The statement by the Spirit in which he allow others to take on the work of explaining the theory of progress was motivated by several questions that had been proposed about the subject during the session. When he says that mediumship is an endless source of research and serious investigations he is perfectly correct.

Although the study of this part of Spiritism is far from complete, we are already far from the time in which people believed that it was only necessary to receive the influence of a mechanical impulse to be called medium and believe to be capable of receiving communications of every Spirit. This would be equivalent to believing that someone that could play a short aria at the piano must necessarily be an excellent musician. The progress of the Spiritist science that progresses daily with new observations shows us the up until recently unsuspected abundance of possible causes and subtle influences onto the intelligent relationships with the spiritual world. The Spirits could not have taught us everything at once. But, like skillful teachers, they give us more details as the ideas are better developed and unfold the principles that if given prematurely would not have been understood and would have created confusion in our minds.

Hence mediumship requires a serious study from the part of whoever sees a serious thing in Spiritism. As the true mechanisms of that faculty are better understood we shall be less exposed to deception because we will all know what it can produce and under which conditions it can happen. And the more people we have enlightened about that point the less people will fall victim of charlatanism.

Nothing is lost in this world, not only regarding matter where everything is incessantly renovated and perfected according to the immutable laws of the Creator applied to all things, but also in the domain of intelligence. Humanity is like a single person that lived forever and endlessly acquired new knowledge. This is not an image but an actual fact because the Spirit is immortal. It is only the body, an envelope or dress for the Spirit, that falls when it is worn out and then replaced by another one. That very matter endures changes. As the Spirit progresses new values are acquired and, if I can say so, a more luxurious, more pleasant and accommodating outfit is deserved for the expression of your earthly language.

Matter depurates and becomes lighter and lighter but never disappearing completely, at least in the intermediary regions; be it as a body or as a perispirit, matter always follows intelligence providing that point of contact in the communications with the inferior, the equal and the superior to instruct, meditate and learn. We said that nothing is lost in nature. We must add that nothing is useless. Everything, even the most dangerous beasts and the subtlest poisonous substances have their reasons for being. How many things were earlier considered useless or harmful to later on have their usefulness acknowledged? There are some, therefore, that you do not understand. Without much detail I will only say that harmful things force you to be cautious and vigilant, exercising your intelligence, whereas if on the contrary mankind had nothing to fear it would lead to laziness and to the impairment of progress. If need is the mother of technology, technology is also the daughter of intelligence.

As some object, God could undoubtedly have spared us from trials and difficulties that seem superfluous; but if the obstacles are imposed on us it is to awake the sleeping resources in our souls; it is to drive the impulses of the treasures of intelligence that would remain buried in our minds if there would be no need or danger to avoid, forcing you to watch out for your own preservation. Instinct is born, followed by intelligence; the thoughts are linked, and reasoning is invented. If I reason I judge, good or bad, that is true, but it is through wrong reasoning that one is led to learn or acknowledge truth. When one is deceived several times, one ends up by learning and that truth, that intelligence obtained after so much work becomes an invaluable asset.

You are afraid of losing your own discoveries. What is it that you do then? You educate your children, your friends, developing their own intelligence by sowing and fructifying there what you have acquired out of your own intellectual efforts.

That is how everything is linked, that progress is a natural law and that human knowledge that is developed progressively is transmitted from generation to generation. After that let them come and say that everything is matter!

Materialistic persons, in their majority, only repeal spirituality because otherwise they would have to renounce to their own mistakes, their way of living and habits. It would be too painful and hence they prefer to deny everything.

Pascal

As you have already witnessed, the serious attitude of the members of a group shocks the strangers that attend the sessions with the intention of exposing them to ridicule. It transforms their intent from kidding to involuntary respect to a serious study and consequently their transition to faith is imperceptible. As a matter of fact, the ones that do not leave such meetings convinced at least take away a favorable impression and if they are not immediately associated with you at least they are no longer your bloodthirsty adversaries.

That is the first reason that must persuade you to be serious and reverential. What would you in fact want from people that leave a meeting in which matters worthy of respect are handled carelessly and lightheartedly? Even considering that the Spiritists that act like that are not ill-intentioned they are not less harmful, not to the future but to the rapid development of the doctrine. Had all meetings been serious and carried out in a proper way it would be much more advanced, although it is already significantly advanced. Such action is not that of a true Spiritist or in the true interest of the doctrine because the enemies take advantage of that to ridicule the doctrine. It is therefore a duty of those that understand its importance not to support events of such a frivolous nature. It is not only to the doctrine that they do harm but to themselves because if every good deed carries its reward every bad action leaves a bad impression behind, sometimes followed by a physical punishment whose minor consequence could be the suspension of the mediumship or, at least, the impossibility of the communication with the Spirits.

One must be serious not only with the benevolent and enlightened Spirits that come to give you wise instructions and that would be kept away from your lack of reverence but also with the Spirits in suffering or even the bad ones that come to you to ask for consolations or to mystify you. I even say that the latter ones in particular are the ones that require seriousness, here seasoned by benevolence. That is the best way of imposing yourselves on them and keeping them at a distance, forcing them to be respectful. If you step down to the level of familiarity with those that are inferior to you, from a moral and intellectual stand point, you shall soon give rise to their perverse influence, translated in the beginning by their mystifications and later on by their cruel and tenacious obsessions.

You must then remain on guard. Adapt your language in accordance with the Spirits that communicate in your groups but never exclude seriousness and benevolence. Never send away those that present themselves with an imperfect appearance. You may perhaps always prefer shrewd communications that do not require your feeling and judgement to assess their value but understand that your judgment may only progress through exercise. All communications have their utility for those that know how to take advantage of them.

A mystification that is recognized and demonstrated may act more efficiently upon your souls, helping you to better acknowledge aspects that need to be reinforced, than instructions that you would gladly admire but hardly practice.

Work with courage and honesty and the Spirit of the Lord shall be with you.

MOKI.

Tonight, I will talk about the immigration of advanced Spirits that come to incarnate on Earth. Those new messengers have already taken the walking stick of the pilgrims; they already count on thousands spread around the globe; they are allocated by Spirits that guide the movement of transformation by groups. Earth already trembles before the vision of those that one day were seen amongst the newborn humanity. The planet rejoices with such an image, anticipating that they should lead her to perfection by guiding ordinary Spirits that need the encouragement of the good examples. Yes, great messengers among you. They are the ones to sustain the forthcoming generation. As Spiritism grows and progresses, Spirits of a more elevated order shall come to support the works imposed by the needs of the cause. God has sowed supporting trunks to the doctrine, all over. They shall come when the time is right at the right place. Wait with patience and faith since everything that was predicted shall happen, up to the last jot, as it is in the sacred book.

If the present transition, as just mentioned by the teacher, has raised passions and brought up the scum of the incarnate and discarnate Spirits, it also has awakened the strong desire from a large number of Spirits in a superior position in many worlds in the stellar clouds, to come again to serve God’s designs towards this great event. That is why a short while ago I said that the immigration of superior Spirits was taking place to operate the ascending march of your Earth. Therefore, have courage, be zealous and passionate about the sacred cause. Know that nothing can stop the progressive march of Spiritism for powerful guardians shall continue your work.

Mesmer

I brought you a few words about the great messengers that are sent among you to carry out their mission of intellectual and moral progress in your globe. If, in that order, the movement unfolds and takes proportions that you observe daily, there is another one taking place not only in the world of the Spirits that left matter but also important in the material world. I refer to the laws of fluidic depuration.

Mankind must not only elevate their soul by the practice of virtue but also depurate matter. Each area of knowledge provides its contribution to that general work because each one leads to mixtures of all species. Those species exhale fluids that more depurated will join the atmosphere of similar fluids that become useful to the manifestations of the Spirits that you mentioned earlier.

Yes, objects that are created instantaneously by the will-power, the richest of all gifts of the Spirit, are collected in the semi-material fluids, analogous to the semi material constitution of the body called perispirit, of the inhabitants of the spiritual world. That is why they can create objects according to their own will.

The invisible world is like yours. Instead of material and rough, it is fluidic, ethereal, of the same nature as the perispirit that is the true body of the Spirit, obtained from molecular structures like yours that forms more tangible, material things.

The world of the Spirits is not a reflex of yours; it is your world that is a rudimentary and very imperfect image of the world beyond the grave. The relationships between these two worlds have always existed but today it is time to have their affinity revealed, demonstrated and palpable to you.

When you understand the laws of relationships between the fluidic beings and those that you know, God’s law shall be close to be practiced because each incarnate person will understand their immortality and from there on shall become not only a keen worker of the great cause but also a worthy server of their works.

Mesmer