Spiritualism

Spiritualism is a religious-style movement based on the belief that departed souls can interact with the living. Spiritualists seek to contact the dead, usually through the assistance of a medium, a person believed to have the ability to contact spirits directly. Some mediums work while in a trancelike state, and some claim to be the catalyst for various paranormal physical phenomena such as the materialization or moving of objects whereby the spirits announce their presence.

Various forms of communication with the disembodied spirits of recently deceased persons have been observed in communities around the world, but the purposes of these communications and descriptions of the nature of spiritual realms vary considerably. Modern spiritualists cite accounts of spirit contact contained in the Bible. One example is the visit of Saul, the king of Israel, to the so-called witch of Endor, during which the late prophet Samuel appeared (I Samuel 28). Another example is the story of the Transfiguration, in which Moses and Elijah appeared to three of Jesus’ Apostles (Matthew 17, Mark 9). Theologians believe, however, that Moses and Elijah (like Enoch) did not die, but were instead directly taken up to heaven.

Some phenomena associated with mediums were evident among those regarded in the Middle Ages as being possessed by devils. Examples are levitation and speaking in languages unknown to the speaker. Similar phenomena were reported in witch trials (most notably those that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts) of the early modern period, particularly the appearance of spirits in quasi-material form and the obtaining of knowledge through spirits.

Modern spiritualism originated in a series of apparently supernatural occurrences at a farmhouse in Hydesville, New York in 1848. The owner and his family, as well as the previous occupants of the house, had been disturbed by unexplained raps at night. After a severe disturbance, the owner’s youngest daughter, Kate Fox, was said to have successfully challenged the supposed spirit to repeat in raps the number of times she flipped her fingers. Once communication had apparently been established, a code was agreed upon by which the raps given could answer questions. The spirit was reported to have identified himself as a man who had been murdered in the house.

The practice of conducting sittings for the purpose of communicating with spirits spread rapidly from that time. In the 1860s this practice was particularly popular in England and France. Kate Fox (afterward Mrs. Fox-Jencken) and one of her sisters, Maggie Fox, devoted much of their later lives to acting as mediums in the United States and England. Many other mediums gave similar sittings, and the attempt to communicate with spirits by table turning (in which participants place their hands on a table and wait for it to vibrate or rotate) became a popular pastime in Victorian parlors. 

This unconventional and novel (to Westerners) movement provoked opposition, verbal condemnation, and occasional mob violence. Church leaders associated spiritualism with witchcraft. Some churches regarded the practices of the spiritualists as part of the forbidden practice of necromancy, communicating with the dead to learn about the future). A decree of the Holy Office of the Roman Catholic Church in 1898 condemned spiritualistic practices, though it approved of the legitimate scientific investigation of related phenomena. Both Protestant and Catholic organizations released a steady stream of anti-spiritualist material.

Spiritualism also inspired the rise of the discipline of psychic research to examine the claims made by mediums and their supporters. A variety of techniques were developed to study not only basic psychic experiences (telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition) but the more complex phenomenon of spirit contact. By the end of the 19th century, significant efforts were being made to verify the phenomena of mediumship, especially the occasional materialization of spirit entities. Many who participated in psychic research hoped for positive results and occasionally concluded that they had proved the existence of clairvoyance or established the reality of spirit contact. Among the most prominent supporters of spiritualist claims was the chemist Sir William Crookes (1832–1919), a president of the Royal Society (the national scientific organization of Great Britain), who investigated and pronounced genuine the materialization phenomena produced by medium Florence Cook.

Those who placed their hopes in physical phenomena, however, were often disappointed. One by one, the mediums were revealed to have engaged in fraud, often employing the techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers. Professional magicians such as Harry Houdini joined efforts to expose the fraudulent practices of mediums. In the 20th century magicians Milbourne Christopher and James Randi were as well known for their efforts to debunk fake mediumship as they were for their stage performances. The exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its reputation, pushing it to the fringes of society in the United States.

Spiritualism became more acceptable in Great Britain, especially in the 1950s after the repeal of witchcraft laws which had been enforced against mediums. It had its greatest successes in France and Brazil, where it became known as spiritism. Spiritism incorporated the concept of reincarnation. So successful has the movement become in Brazil that the French founder of spiritism, Allan Kardec, has been commemorated on Brazilian postage stamps. Spiritism, or Kardecism, is a reincarnationist and spiritualist doctrine established in France in the mid-19th century by writer and educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (a.k.a. Allan Kardec). Kardec considered his doctrine to derive from a Christianity. He described a cycle by which a spirit supposedly returns to material existence after the death of the old body in which it formerly dwelled, as well as the evolution it undergoes during this process. Kardecism emerged as a new religious movement in tandem with spiritualism. 

The practice of mediumship enjoyed a rebirth in the 1970s as a significant component of the New Age movement, one which aspired to inaugurate an idealistic culture in the 21st century. New Age “channelers” claim to contact a variety of disembodied entities including Ascended Masters (spiritual beings who are believed to guide human destiny), extraterrestrials beings, and (like the spiritualists) the dead. While the New Age movement largely disappeared in the 1990s, channeling continues to remain popular.

Spiritualist belief developed during the early decades of the movement. A core belief of spiritualism is that individuals survive the deaths of their bodies by ascending into a spirit existence. A person’s condition after death is directly related to the moral quality of his human existence. Communion with the spiritual world is both possible and desirable, and spiritual healing is the natural result of such communication. The spiritualists describe God as being infinite intelligence.

Although inherently religious, during its first generation the movement avoided organizing itself into a formal church. Spiritualist associations began to appear in some areas of the United States in the first decades after the Civil War and eventually formed a nationwide organization, the National Spiritualist Association (later the National Spiritualist Association of Churches), in 1893. In 1899, a six-article "Declaration of Principles" was adopted by many Spiritualist groups. Three other articles were added later. Not all Spiritualist denominations or individual churches affirm these principles, but because of their historical significance in setting the beliefs of modern Spiritualism, all nine articles are listed below. Unitarian influence is evident in the definition of God.

We believe in Infinite Intelligence.

We believe that the phenomena of Nature, both physical and spiritual, are the expression of Infinite Intelligence.

We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith constitute true religion.

We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death.

We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.

We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature's physical and spiritual laws.

We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any soul here or hereafter.

We affirm that the precept of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven through Mediumship.

Historically, spiritualism was organized in small groups that conducted séances, gatherings held for communication with the spirits. Larger gatherings were held for public demonstrations of spirit contact and psychic phenomena. These gatherings evolved into the Sunday church services that became common in spiritualist churches in the 20th century. Many associations also sponsored camps where believers could congregate in a leisurely atmosphere, have private sessions with mediums, and attend daily séances.

Initially, spiritualist gatherings were concerned with demonstrating and investigating mental phenomena such as clairvoyance, telepathy, and the reception of messages from spirits. The messages that mediums claimed to receive were examined to build theoretical constructs for explaining how spirit contact could occur. Very early in the movement, however, séances featuring more spectacular physical phenomena were conducted, and mediums arose who specialized in such displays. Spirits were said to have the power to levitate objects, to speak independently of the medium, to leave pictures on photographic plates, and to materialize objects, including themselves.

Also basic to spiritualist practice is “spirit healing.” Among the precursors of spiritualism was the Magnetist movement, which had grown out of the magnetic healing theories of Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer’s interest in invisible forces found concrete expression in his early medical practice, where he experimented with using iron magnets to treat illness. Later, he used new techniques which involved “magnetic passes” or sweeping movements of the hands to direct magnetic fluid to diseased parts of the patient’s body. Using these methods, Mesmer performed some remarkable cures in Austria, Germany and France. He attempted to gain acceptance for his theory of animal magnetism from the medical establishment of Vienna, then in Paris.The medical faculty of Paris was alarmed at the popularity of Mesmer’s clinics and two commissions were constituted to investigate animal magnetism. Both of them produced reports unfavorable to animal magnetism, but at the same time contributed to the popularity of the movement by initiating the wave of pamphlets and books supporting or objecting to conclusions of both reports. The Magnetists had specialized in spiritual healing and the public demonstration of magnetic phenomena (which included hypnotism). Spiritualism absorbed many of the assumptions of the Magnetist movement but maintained that healings were the result of spirit influence rather than magnetic power.

Although spiritualist practices have been motivated by mere curiosity and fascination with the supernatural, they have also been driven by more serious concerns about the fate of the human soul. For those who have lost their faith in traditional Christianity, spiritualists have offered a new religion based not on an ancient tradition but on facts that apparently can be observed by anyone. Those for whom materialistic ways of thinking have precluded belief in a life after death have been given a new hope of immortality. Those suffering from grief after the death of loved ones have been offered the possibility of communicating with them. The strong involvement of emotion in both the acceptance and the rejection of spiritualism has made it difficult to impartially evaluate evidence both for and against it.