Speaking of spiritualism, most people imagine pictures of calling the spirit, communicating with deceased relatives and famous people who have seen in mystical films. In this article we will try to find out what spiritualism really is, where and when it originated, how it developed in the future.
The term "spiritualism" was formed from the Latin spiritus, which means "spirit, soul", and it denotes a religious-philosophical doctrine.
Spiritism as a doctrine: what is it?
The essence of the mystical teaching of spiritualism can be formulated as the belief that the spiritual part of a person continues to exist even after the physical death of the body. Moreover, she is able to communicate with the living through an intermediary, usually a medium. Adherents of this doctrine argue that natural phenomena and the entire material entity are controlled by spirits. Performed with the assistance of evil spirits, magical techniques are called witchcraft. The Bible, and by extension the church, categorically condemns all forms of spiritualism.
History
Researchers of this movement claim that its historycounted in thousands of years. It was practiced by the ancient Greeks and Romans, the idea of spiritualism was known in the Middle Ages, although there is no scientific evidence for this. The history of modern spiritualism is counted from 1848. The ancient teaching was revived in the city of Hydesville (New York State). At this time, a certain John Fox rented a house, in which strange knocks soon began to be heard, the origin of which was not clear to the inhabitants of the house.
Marguerite, Fox's daughter, knocked back and made contact with some unknown force. The girl managed to create a whole alphabet, with the help of which she communicated with mysterious guests and received answers to questions that worried her the most. Probably, many of our readers will attribute this event to the number of ordinary ones: an ex alted girl took her fantasies and feelings for reality, that's all.
And one could agree with this if spiritual miracles after a while literally flooded the United States, and later the whole world. The knocking in a small American house "reached" distant countries, in many of which special institutes and schools for the study of spiritualism were created, which were engaged in the training of future mediums. By the way, their number today around the world exceeds a million people. And these are only "graduated" specialists.
Further Development of Spiritualism
In 1850, Allan Kardec began to study paranormal phenomena that occurred at seances. He was assisted by a friend's daughters who acted asmediums. At the next spiritualistic session, he was informed of his "mission", which consisted in the fact that he must acquaint mankind with new ideas about the structure of the world.
Kardek immediately believed in his chosenness and began to form his "Holy Scripture" on the basis of spiritualistic dialogues, asking questions to the "spirits" and methodically writing down the answers. They were formulated by claps or knocks (a code was used) or on a Ouija board.
Two years later, Kardec was sure that he had received the necessary amount of information to form a "new theory of the universe", the purpose and fate of mankind. So, his books were published: The Book of Spirits (1856), The Book of Mediums (1861), The Gospel in the Interpretation of Spirits (1864) and some others. However, it should be recognized that the ideas of Allan Kardec were severely criticized by the clergy, and the admirers of spiritualism did not agree with him in everything.
The idea of spiritualism gained particular popularity in highly developed countries - in England, Germany, the USA, Italy, mainly in the circle of high society and the intelligentsia. Therefore, the assertion that mediums are believed by the backward sections of society is highly debatable.
Principles of Spiritism
Spiritualists claim that:
- The human soul continues to exist after the end of earthly life, it is immortal.
- Anyone with the help of an experienced medium can learn how to call the spirit of a deceased relative or famous person, and make contact with him, receiving from him the necessary advice, help or find out his future.
- Divine judgment onthere is no dead, all people, regardless of how they lived their lives, after death will gain the immortality of the soul.
The idea of Kardec's spiritualism was that spiritual development is conditioned by reincarnation (reincarnation). “Dressing” in earthly flesh, the spirits are purified and improved, returning to this world in order to experience earthly trials again and again. The spirit that has gone through all the stages of reincarnation becomes "pure" and gains eternal life. Everything acquired by him in earthly life (according to Kardec) is not lost. Kardec claimed that he formed this concept based on the messages of the "spirits" themselves.
Spiritism is a kind of religion that requires absolute obedience from its adherents, promising immortality in return. This is fundamentally contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it can be argued that spiritualism is the denial of Christ and Christianity with its basic dogmas. It can be attributed to black satanic philosophies.
How is a seance performed?
The seeming simplicity of this ritual and its special effectiveness have made such sessions immensely popular among people who are interested in the unknown. A session of spiritualism, as a rule, is carried out by several people. To achieve the desired result, it is necessary that one of the participants be a medium or at least have the appropriate abilities and some experience in conducting such sessions.
The sacrament begins at twelve o'clock at night and lasts until four in the morning. It is advisable to call the souls of the afterlife to some memorable ones during their earthlylife days (for example, birthdays or deaths). The call of spirits, according to mediums, is favored by the full moon, which enhances the superpowers of the medium.
For the session, a semi-dark room is chosen, with an abundance of candles and incense. By tradition, participants in the session leave a window or door ajar so that nothing prevents the spirit from entering the room. It is desirable that there be items associated with the summoned spirit: photographs, talismans, pictures, books.
Required Accessories
In addition to candles, incense, various items associated with a dead person, you need a board for spiritualism, or Ouija, which is known to many from mystical films. The letters of the alphabet, the first ten digits and the words "yes" and "no" are applied on it. In addition, it has an arrow. With its help, spirits answer questions.
This board was invented not so long ago. The first Ouija was invented by Elijah Bond as a simple home game. But in those days, the fascination with the occult was very common. Bond's partner suggested that the so-called talking board be presented as an ancient Egyptian game, with the help of which the priests allegedly predicted the future. At the same time, the name was coined for her. "Ouija" is translated from Egyptian as "luck".
The game rapidly spread around the world, in Europe it was patented as a "psychograph" that helps to read people's minds. And a little later, Allan Kardec from France described it as a kind of tool designed to communicate withspirits. And just like that, the Ouija turned from home entertainment into a spiritualistic instrument.
Similar boards in antiquity
Although the American inventor mystified his invention, something similar existed earlier in ancient Egypt, where the cult of the world of the dead was very developed: priests regularly practiced “communication” with it, using a round table with magic symbols carved on it. Above it, a gold ring was hung on a long thread. When the spirit was asked a question, the ring was swung, as the mediums claimed, with the help of the god Set, and pointed to the hieroglyphs. The priests could only interpret the sayings of Set. It is known that such tablets, which served to communicate with the gods, were used by the ancient Greeks, Chinese and Indians. Modern mediums use the Ouija to communicate with the souls of dead people, not with pagan gods.
Ouija boards gained the greatest popularity at the beginning of the 20th century, when after two wars people lost millions of their loved ones. They were interested in how to call the spirit of a deceased relative, somehow contact his soul. At this time, the production of boards develops and very soon each medium acquires his own board. It was believed that after communicating with spirits, traces of communication with them remain on it.
Ouija is made from any kind of wood. The pointer for easier movement on the board is often equipped with three wooden balls. In modern sessions, it is often replaced by a saucer. It indicates letters and numbers with an empty window or sharpend. The medium or several participants in the session lightly touch the saucer with their fingers and concentrate all their attention on the question of interest that is asked to the spirits.
Those who guess after a while begin to feel that the pointer moves independently from letter to letter, marking them sequentially and thus forming an answer.
How is a séance conducted?
Participants of the ritual are seated around the table, in the middle of which a board for spiritism is laid, candles are placed. As a pointer, a porcelain saucer is most often used, on which an arrow is drawn. Then it is slightly heated over the flame of a candle and set in the center of the spirit circle.
Spiritists put their fingertips on the saucer, barely touching it. The fingers of the participants must touch the fingers of their nearest neighbor. Thus, the circle is closed. After that, the participants in the session begin to call on the spirit, calling it by name, to appear. The call is repeated for quite a long time, sometimes this process can last more than one hour. It happens that a capricious spirit does not appear at all.
The “behavior” of the saucer will indicate its presence: without any effort on the part of the audience, it begins to turn and can even rise above the table. It's time to ask the spirit questions. Usually they are given by the medium. It is advisable to ask the first questions with one-syllable answers that require “yes” or “no” answers.
Experienced mediums warn that spiritualism is not a game. Only people who deeply believe in everything that happens can do it. Spirits are very evil: often they swear andthey tell a lie. It is quite difficult to count on veracity if the session is conducted by amateurs. To check if the spirit is truthful with the fortuneteller, ask him a few questions, the answers to which are well known to someone present.
Do not ask questions related to death, the afterlife and the life of the spirit outside of our reality. Before the end of the session, politely thank the spirit, turn the saucer over and tap it three times on the table, indicating that you are releasing the spirit.
During the session is prohibited:
- communicate with spirits for more than one hour a day, although the ritual itself is not limited in time;
- summon more than three spirits in one session;
- take a lot of fatty and spicy food and alcohol before the session.
The Dangers of Spiritism
Most fans of communication with unknown forces are sure that spiritualism is not dangerous. They believe that the souls of those people whom they call come to them and give them reliable answers to questions about the future. But this is one of the main misconceptions.
Spiritism is a dangerous occupation and should not be done for the sake of idle curiosity. Spiritualism looks pretty harmless, but only at first glance. Quite often, the wrong spirits come to the call of the session participants.
Who comes to the call?
If we conduct a little research to determine who is more often disturbed by the participants of spiritualistic sessions, we can conclude that this is the spirit of the brilliant A. S. Pushkin. For some reason, in our country they are very fond of summoning spirits at seancesnamely poets: Akhmatova, Yesenin, Vysotsky and Lermontov. Well, Alexander Sergeevich is the leader in this list.
People who take part in such sessions are convinced that they are visited by the spirits of famous people or their close and dear people. However, this is misleading. The clergy claim that during such rituals, dark entities that live in the lower astral layers come to people. They are unable to predict the future. They appear in our reality at will, and not at the call of people who have gathered for a seance.
The main danger of spiritualism is that the called entity will remain in the room at the end of the session. There have been officially recorded cases when, after holding séances in the house, a poltergeist settled in it. After each session of spiritualism, it is necessary to invite a priest to consecrate and cleanse the room, expel the overstayed essence.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the publisher of the Spiritualist magazine, and he was also the editor-in-chief of this popular publication at that time, V. P. Bykov, who later became disillusioned with spiritualism, described many cases when communication with otherworldly forces led to extremely deplorable results. For example, in 1910, V. E. Yakunichev, a former novice of the Chudov Monastery in Moscow, committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide. At one time he was a member of many spiritualist circles.
In 1911, student Timoshenko, who studied at Moscow University, tried to die. He worked for many yearsspiritualism. Around the same time, one of the most famous spiritualists in Moscow, Vorobyeva, died, who stubbornly refused treatment in case of a serious illness. It was as if she deliberately hastened her demise.
Bykov cites in his memoirs many cases when lovers of spiritism were expected to die prematurely, sometimes under mysterious circumstances;
In the seventies of the nineteenth century, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev created the “Commission for the Study of Mediumistic Phenomena”. It included many famous scientists. The conclusion of the commission was unequivocal: spiritualistic phenomena come from unconscious movements or are a conscious deception. According to the members of the commission, spiritualism is a superstition. This conclusion was presented in the pamphlet "Materials for the Judgment of Spiritualism" published by Mendeleev.
So is it worth putting your and your loved ones' he alth, well-being and life itself on the line, for the sake of very dubious rituals? There is no definite answer to this question: everyone must answer it for himself.