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Spiritualism (beliefs)

Spiritualism is a term commonly used for various psychic or paranormal practices and beliefs recorded throughout humanity's history and in a variety of cultures. Specifically capitalized, the word is used in a narrow sense to describe a religious movement that started in the 19th Century and known as "Modern Spiritualism" or "Modern American Spiritualism.

Spiritualistic traditions appear deeply rooted in shamanism and, as such, are perhaps the oldest forms of religion. Mediumship is a modern form of shamanism and such ideas are very much like those developed by Edward Burnett Tylor in his theory of animism, where there are other worlds parallel to our own, though invisible to us and not accessible to us in our state. The connecting link between these worlds is the psychic. A person endowed with exceptional sensitivity to the occult dimension, who experiences visions and revelations. Only a few individuals are said to have this capacity.

Definition

From the Latin 'spiritus'. Most basically, spiritualism is the belief that spirits are able to communicate witht the living by agency of a medium. The earliest recorded use of the word is 1796 and it was used by the prominent C18 th spiritualist Emanuel Swedenborg. The term “spiritualism” has come to have different meanings. A broad working definition of the term would include; the multi-faceted belief in a vital principle within living beings, a supernatural or paranormal, divine, incorporeal being–force, spirit–animas animating bodies etc. Adherents of spiritualistic movements believe that the spirits of the dead survive mortal life, and that sentient beings from "spiritual worlds", can and do communicate with the living. Since ancient times, this has been an element in traditional indigenous religions. In today’s world, it is a growing phenomenon manifesting itself in traditional indigenous religiosity on all continents through non-aligned spiritualistic groups and many syncretistic movements and within elements of orthodox religions by which it is still seen as a challenge.

Many reference works also use the term spiritism to mean the same thing as "spiritualism" but Spiritism is more accurately used to mean Kardecist spiritism. Central to adherents' faith is a belief that spirits of the dead communicate with the living usually through a medium.

The word also takes on specific alternative meanings in various differing fields of academia, see below.

Usage

Spiritualism is used in English to mean either;

1) (Religion) – the belief that people can and do communicate with dead people and the practices and doctrines of people with this belief.

2) (Philosophy) – In a philosophical doctrine or religious beliefs emphasising that spirits and souls exist or that all reality is spiritual, not material.
3) (Metaphysics) – various doctrines maintaining that the ultimate reality is spirit or mind.

4) (Ethics) – the view that spiritual concerns are more important than this-worldly concerns (a kind of idealism or asceticism that is opposed to secularism).

5) (Epistemology) – another term for mysticism.

6) (Art) – "Abstract Spiritualism", a term coined by Gerard Tempest, friend of the renowned surrealist Giorgio de Chirico in the 1950s to describe his “landscapes of the mind’s eye.” A recurring theme begun in 1953 and continuing throughout the 1990s.

Beliefs

Modern Spiritualism

"Modern Spiritualism", or "Modern American Spiritualism" is used to refer to an Anglo-American religious movement having its golden age between the 1840s and 1920s but which continues on to this day.

Christian Spiritualism

Spiritualism has been related to the practises of early Christianity and has developed into an additional form of Christian Spiritualism, e.g. the still active First Spiritual Temple in the USA founded in 1883 and the Greater World Christian Spiritualist League (later to become the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association) in the UK which was founded in 1931. Foremost in the movement towards Christian Spiritualism in the United Kingdom was one of the leading pioneers in the spiritualism movement, medium and Reverend William Stainton Moses. He was a member of the BNAS (British National Association of Spiritualists), vice-president of the Society for Psychic Research and launched the London Spiritualist Alliance which later became the College of Psychic Studies.

France Pre-1848

French spiritualism, better known as Spiritism; popular throughout France and Latin American countries.

Spiritualist beliefs are found from time to time in the early literature of the French "magnetists". As early as 1787 M. Tardy de Montravel wrote that in the trance the soul of the "somnambule" became freed from its body and was able to intercourse with other spirits. Dr G.P. Billot, and J. P. F. Deleuze and recorded discussing and documenting seances from the 1820s.

Of the early French Spiritualist, Alphonse Cahagnet, publisher of spirit messages such as "Arcanes de la vie future devoiles" (1848), is one of its foremost cases. Familiar with the teachings of Swedenborg, and interest evoked by contemporary German clairvoyants, in Paris of his day Cahagnet stood almost alone belonging to no school. For the advent of Modern Spiritualism in America, Cahagnet would have found few readers but his documentation of his work with the medium Adele Maginot were at once amongst the most remarkable and the best-attested documents on which the early case for Spiritualism depended.

Native American spiritualism

Representations of Native Americans images played a significant role in nineteenth-century spiritualism although in reality they are their tradition have suffer considerably under the influences of competing Christian churches . Since 1970, there has also been a rapid increase in the number of individuals purporting to sell native American spiritualism. A growth industry within the United States known as 'American Indian Spiritualism', the business began with a number of literary hoaxes undertaken by such non-Indians as Carlos Castaneda and Jamake Highwater. Several Native Americans have also sought to exploit it writing distortions of indigenous spiritual practises and knowledge for consumption in the mass market.

This situation has been long and bitterly attacked by legitimate Indian scholars and by activists such as the American Indian Movement, Survival of American Indians and the late Gerald Wilkenson, head of the National Indian Youth Council.

The Caribbean

Spiritualism in the Caribbean has taken different roads of expression based on its contact with other religious systems. In urban areas, for example, Spiritualists were highly literate and more apt to indulge the concepts of foreign authors. In the rural areas, however, illiteracy was widespread and practitioners held a diverse array of beliefs and practices.

In Cuba, for instance, two fundamental variants of espiritism exist:

La Mesa Blanca Spiritualism is form of practice is highly colonialized, meaning the European influence is quite evident. Catholicism, Native and African meld together into a syncretic belief system. This variant is designated by the use of La Mesa Blanca or "White Table".
Egungun Spiritualism is form of spiritism that has strong Kongo–Bantu roots. Elements from Lucumi/Regla de Ocha are evident. This type of practice, designated by the use of chants and dancing (performed by the mediums) in a line or chain to the beat of songs, hymns and invocations that ultimately lead to a state of trance or possession by the Spirit, is seen in rural areas and in the province of Santiago.

La Mesa Blanca Spiritualism is the type of Espiritismo that made its way to US. The old line Eggungun form of service has not made much headway on the mainland. Séances, in Latino cultures, are called misas. Santeria, more properly called La Regla Lucumi (as the Yoruba were called in Cuba) is famous for its "magic" based on a knowledge of spirits and how to interact with them.

South America

Definitions of spirit possession, channelling and mediumship within the Brazilian 'cultos' is recognised to correspond with what appears to be the majority view as described by ethnographers of spirit possession worldwide. There are a number of descriptions available concerning what happens when someone becomes possessed. Practises brought over by African slaves from West Africa, Mixed with indigenous South American tradition to develop their own flavour. During the suppression of Culto Omoloco or Umbanda by the Roman Catholic Church a period of syncretism commenced that included the introduction of images of the saints present in the churches presenting a new look for repressors behind which the Africans worshipped their gods and ancestors. This process of merger continued with the introduction of Kardecist spiritism and includes spiritualists.

Use of Spirit Entities
Afro	Brazilian	Origin	Line/Tradition
Orixá		Yoruba	Candomblé Nagô
Vodun		Dahomey	Candomblé Jeje
	Vodunsu, Encantado	Europe, Middle East	Mina
	Caboclo Indigenous	Amazonian	Mina, healing & consultation
	Animal Spirits	Indigenous Amazonian	Curing

From: 'Channellers, Cowries and Conversations with the Gods: explaining multiple divination methods in an Afro-Brazilian religious tradition'.

In Puerto Rico, trance mediums feature in is spiritism and in Cuba, syncretic spiritualistic practises similar to Santeria are called Santerfa and enjoy an estimated five million Hispanic American followers.

India

Spiritualism is also practised within India in both modern and traditional forms involving contacting the spirits of the dead persons, individuals own relatives as well as other benevolent spirits, in order to learn the secrets of the other world and gain wealth or power over others. it is prevalent in both the North and the South, amongst the Tulu and Telugu speaking people and across caste divides by way of ritual, and exists in a variety of mediumship cults.

In 'A Tale of goddesses, money, and other terribly wonderful things: spirit possession, commodity fetishism, and the narrative of capitalism in Rajasthan', anthropologist J.G. Snodgrass explores the use of spiritualism amongst Rajasthani performing communities arguing for an appreciation of the way religious forms, and particularly the use of spiritual possessions, represent a form of language. Rajasthanis are possessed by a range of spiritual entities. Some of these are judged good and beneficial, some evil.

Trance mediumship and channelling are also practised by the UN related new religious movement called, the Brahma Kumaris who have their headquarters in the state.

Eastern Asia

Noted as early as 1850 by J. R. Logan in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago IV. 552 who illustrated the different forms of spiritualism which prevailed in Eastern Asia at that time". Henry Olcott of the Theosophical Society went to length to draw correlations between Eastern spiritualistic practises and Modern Spiritualism.

China

Hsien-t'ien Tao sects claim to represent a way (Tao) that transcends and unites all other religions. Explicit syncretism is a noticeable feature of these groups who claim that their teachings aim to unify the "Three Religions" (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism), the "Five Religions" or even the former three plus Christianity and Islam. Most Hsien-tien Tao groups rely heavily on spirit-writing as a means of communicating with "the Mother" as well as lower-ranking deities. Amongst practitioners, the T'zu-hui Tang differ from the other Hsien-t'ien Tao sects, which were all originally based on the Chinese mainland, in that it originated in Taiwan in post-World War II years. It was founded in 1949, when the "Golden Mother of the Jasper Pool" revealed herself through a medium in the northeastern Taiwanese city of Hualien. The cults influence reaches to Malaysia.

Mesmerism, Planchette, and Spiritualism have also been noted in China, soon after the start of spiritualism in the West.

Japan

in Japan, spirit mediums are called Reibai. Although the primary religion of Japan, Shintoism is essentially animistic, relating to Kami, or spirits, psychical research typical of the West was introduced to Japan by Wasaburou Asano (1874–1937). Wasaburou established the Society for Spiritual Science Research in Japan and is recognized as creating modern Japanese Spiritualism. His successor Takeo Waki further developing the movement. Later Hiroyoshi Kuwahara created Neo Spiritualism which combined Japanese Spiritualism with the content of British spirit messages.

Japan Psychic Science Association (JPSA) was started in December 1946 promotes spiritualism and conducts psychical research. It provides members with the opportunities for psychic readings and healings and promotes scientific research by a team of scientists and engineers.

Recently widespread popular interest was inspired by Hiroyuki Ehara, a self-professed spiritual counselor who hosts a weekly television show Aura no Izumi where he looks into celebrities' past lives and reads their "auras". Spiritual reading are known as Seishin Touitshuka. Other notable spiritualists include, Fukurai Tomokichi (1869–1952) Japanese pioneer of parapsychology, Mifune Chizuko (1886–1911), a clairvoyant. Mita Koichi (1885–1943), a psychic and Deguchi Onisaburo (1871–1948) Leader of Ohmoto, a Japanese Shinto sect who practised channelling known as Chinkon-kijin. Japan also has its own traditional form or table turning or ouija called Kokkuri and spirits beings are called Yokai in its folklore.

Pacific islands

In Samoa, Java, Tonga etc distinctions are made between god-like and spirit-like beings, with gods representing the moral order and spirits dealing with periphery issues, both through channelling, mediumship and possession. Authors note the susceptibility of missionaries in Samoa to local spirits, remembering that spirits were a significant feature of the Victorian milieu through the revival of Spiritualism.

In Micronesia, recently deceased kin often appear as spirit visitors and possess female relatives in order to provide comfort and guidance. Identically to Anglo-American practises, they deliver important messages from beyond the grave. These spirits are fully sentient beings who retain social and emotional ties with their earthly homes and families. They occupy a liminal space between this world and the afterlife.

During this liminal period, spirits must learn how to "be dead," while the living struggle to reconcile themselves to the corporeal death and new spiritual life of the departed. Spirit possession and other forms of spirit communication, including the popular use of ouija boards, help to facilitate the process of "becoming dead" on both sides of the cosmological divide. Spiritualistic practices play an important role in helping individuals to understand death as a journey when it is also marked by social rupture and the problems of grief and attachment.

The Antipodes

In Australia, Aborigine tribes in Victoria called spirits Mrarts, understood to be the souls of "Black Fellows dead and gone", not demons unattached. The mediums, now very scarce, are Birraarks who were consulted as to matters present and future, whose practises include the 'spirit-rapping' known to the Modern Spiritualists and whistles, heard in certain Brazilian séances. The Maoris' specialty was 'trance utterance', the Tohungas being mediums.

Africa

West-African Kongol and Bantu tradition is generally referred to as Voudun, (or anglacised to Voodoo). Spirit mediumship and spirit possession are fairly common practices in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in traditional religions and in Christian contexts. As is the norm, the term spiritualism and spiritism are used generally and interchangeably to describe indigenous spiritualistic practises. Spiritism, spiritualism, and spiritual churches have been established in Ghana and Nigeria. Following similar trends of the syncretism of traditional spirit worship and Christianity, they pervade everyday life to the top of society where they play a part in politic elections, ritualizing to help politicians win elections and interpreting events in prophetic terms and are used in healing.

Kubandwa is a spirit possession cult spread all over the Great Lakes region of Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, north-western Tanzania, Uganda, Eastern Congo past women have played an important role in kubandwa, both as mediums and spirits. Tromba mediumship features in Madagascar.

Islam

Spiritualism is practised but not condoned in Islamic societies. The Sufi sect of Dervishes are referred to as "Eastern Spiritualists". Likewise, the Zār cult of North Africa (Sudan, Egypt) and the Middle East (Iran).

Spiritualistic activities

The phenomena of Spiritualism consists of; prophecy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, gift of tongues, laying on of hands, healing, visions, trance, apports, revelations, raps, levitation, automatic and independent writing and painting, photography, materialization, psychometry, direct and independent voice, and any other manifestation which proves the continuity of life after death.

Such universal practises and the giving of spiritual guidance, the different manifestation of spiritualistic activities were categorised by Sir William Crookes, a highly distinguished British physicist and chemist, as being;

The movement of heavy bodies with contact, but without mechanical exertion
The phenomena of percussive and other allied sounds
The alteration of weights of bodies
Movements of heavy substances when at a distance from the medium
The rising of tables and chairs off the ground, with out contact with any person
The levitation of human beings
Movement of various small articles without contact with any person
Luminous appearances
The appearance of hands, either self-luminous or visible by ordinary light
Direct (automatic) writing
Phantom forms and faces
Special instances which seem to point to the agency of an exterior intelligence
Miscellaneous occurrences of a complex character.

Gender balance

See main section, Spiritualism#Gender balance

Women have historically had a fairly constant interest in the spirit world. Spiritualism's current popularity in the West is a result of women having more power and visibility, giving the spirit world a prominence in society that it previously had only during spiritualism's "boom" periods when men became interested.

Historically, the majority of mediums for tromba spirits amongst the Sakalava have also been adult women, usually in their forties or older and is likewise associated with female status. In general, a Sakalava ritual in which the spirits must be fed, cannot be performed if the two are not present and represented.

Notable individuals

Swedenborg

A Swedish scientist, philosopher, politician and theologian. Widely recognized as the "Father of Modern Spiritualism" but practicing before the movement started. A clairvoyant medium and used his spiritualist gifts for the royalty of Sweden.

Allan Kardec

Developed the C19th spiritualist philosophical doctrine of Spiritism, popular in Francophone and Latin nations.

Edward Burnett Tylor

Anthropologist, introduced the term animism.

Joseph Campbell

C20th American mythology professor and author best known for his work in the fields of comparative religion.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung's doctoral dissertation was not medical research but the investigation of a medium, his maternal cousin, Hélène Preiswerk. His mother, Emilie Preiswerk, was born into a family that regularly practised Spiritualism. The daughter of a man who held weekly seances with his dead first wife who instructed young Emilie to stand behind his chair to discourage ghosts. Jung showed a willingness to take Spiritualism seriously at this formative stage in his life and the early experiences with Hélène Preiswerk suggest a credence of Spiritualism as possible evidence of the supernatural.

The spiritualist narrative in Jung’s personal life reached a climax in 1916 when he became convinced that his house was crammed with spirits. He practised a typically mediumistic activity of ‘spirit-directed' writing.