It’s in the Original Mission
Both Spiritism and Spiritualism believe that the spirit world exists and spirits have an impact on human beings. The impact may be positive or negative, informative or deceptive. Both Spiritism and Spiritualism agree that we continue to live on after physical death in “Spirit World”. Both believe in psychic, or paranormal abilities, like clairvoyance, that make it possible for gifted “psychics” to see what is invisible to most people. Both Spiritism and Spiritualism believe that spiritual healing has many forms and can have a very positive impact on physical health.
Spiritualism existed before Spiritism. Thus, Spiritism can be considered an offshoot of Spiritualism but with a different mission. Spiritism is oriented towards supporting spiritual evolution in concrete ways. Spiritism has a coherent philosophy and cogent principles about how to live together to achieve spiritual growth. Spiritualism, in its origins, was oriented towards exploring the unusual phenomena of spirit contact. It has no cohesive philosophy or principles for living in its origins.
Today, most Spiritualists embrace the ideal of spiritual evolution. However, they still don’t follow one philosophy. There are many psychics who have written books and displayed their clairvoyant and healing gifts in presentations and private consultations who are the figureheads of Spiritualists. Edgar Cayce is one. Cayce’s clients included a number of famous people such as Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin (1).
Spiritism Today
An academic Frenchman, Allan Kardec, birthed Spiritism in the 1850s in France. He asked 1001 questions to psychic mediums about basic existential questions and then collated the answers in 5 foundational books. Questions answered were things like: “What is the purpose of life? What happens at death? Do disembodied spirits interact with embodied human beings?” He published the answers that were similar from qualified mediums who channeled information from highly evolved spirits.
In a nutshell Kardec’s books reflect: The purpose of life is spiritual growth, i.e. to become more compassionate and wise. We keep coming back (reincarnating) through successive lifetimes to get closer to the goal. Karma reigns; the Universe is run by cause and effect. Jesus Christ is an excellent example of one person who reached the goal. Some say Spiritism is a path of practical Christianity. Kardec clarified that not all spirits have positive intent so we must be very careful if we open ourselves to spirit contact.
Spiritist Community Centers evolved to give support to those who want to evolve spiritually. These Centers are in many countries, but most are located in the Phillipines and in Brazil. They offer spiritual healing (e.g. laying on of hands), classes, training of healers, inspiring talks, and fellowship. People of all faiths are welcome. Spiritism is not a religion; it is a path of life with a philosophy that resonates with many. Over 20-40 million Brazilians use the Spiritist Community Centers when they need help with physical illness or psychological issues. There are 50 Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals in Brazil that combine spiritual healing with conventional psychiatry.
Spiritualism Today
Spiritualism was birthed in 1848 in the USA with two girls, the Fox sisters, who reported hearing rapping inside the walls of their home unrelated to anyone’s physical actions. Through their psychic abilities, they received a spirit communication explaining the rapping. The message was: a skeleton was buried in the basement of their home. They located the skeleton of the man who had been murdered and buried there. Town officials corroborated their story, as they had been looking for this man’s body after he had been reported missing. Thus the Fox sisters psychic attunement to the sounds, and their interpretation of them, proved valid.
The public became intensely fascinated with phenomena that come from spirits interacting with human beings as a result of the Fox sisters. Large dramatic exhibitions where people like the Fox sisters were on display for a fee became popular. The drama and suspense around psychic phenomena increased when some wanted to prove that contact with spirits could not exist and devised ways to make a mockery of the Fox sisters and other mediums. However, the fascination with getting discrete information from spirits grew. Explorations went on in living rooms with séances, where small groups would open themselves to communication with spirits. Even President Lincoln attended some séances in Washington, DC. They gave him useful information in his Presidency related to the Civil War (2).
The Ouija Board is a contemporary offshoot of séances that is sold as a “game”. A person following the instructions can open themselves to communication with spirits. There are 60+ choices of Ouija Boards on Amazon.com.
In the USA there is a National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC), The National Spiritual Alliance (TNSA), and the United Spiritualist Church Association (USCA), but many spiritualist organizations are independent with no national affiliation. The church services include prayer and a demonstration by a visiting psychic medium. The churches also provide education of Spiritualist history and thought outside of the services. In the 19th century some Spiritualist Camps were set up for families for summer recreation and Spiritualist study. Among the best-known of the Spiritualist camps that still exist are Lily Dale Assembly in Lily Dale, New York, and Camp Cassadaga in Cassadaga, Florida(3). Approximately 0.1% of the populations of USA, UK, AU and Canada are Spiritualist, or about 220,000 people.
Author Bio:
Emma Bragdon, PhD is the Executive Director of Integrative Mental Health University, IMHU.org. It offers online and live presentations giving choices for effectively optimizing mental health. We offer unique certification as a Spiritual Emergence Coach amongst other courses exposing the phenomena of spiritual awakening.
What IMHU Offers:
Once a year Emma takes a small group of healthcare providers to Brazil for a transformative weeklong seminar on Spiritist treatments used in Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals and Community Centers. IMHU also offers an online course for armchair travelers who want to watch webinars/interviews with Spiritist Practioners. Click HERE. You can also check out IMHU’s YouTube videos on the subject of Spiritism: Click HERE. Our full roster of courses is HERE.
NOTES
(1) Kirkpatrick, S. (2000) Edgar Cayce: an American prophet. Riverhead Books
(2) Maynard, N. C. (2009) Séances in Washington: Abraham Lincoln and Spiritualism during the Civil War. Ancient Wisdom Publishing.
(3) Wicker, C. (2003). Lily Dale: the True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead. Harper San Francisco.
I found it interesting when you talked about the differences between spiritism and spiritualism. Recently, I started to become interested in learning about different religions and beliefs. I’m not much of a believer, but I’d like to know more about them and how they’ve helped people. I appreciate your information on how both of them are focused on how the spirit world exists.
Thanks for the helpful distinction between spiritism and spiritualism! It is in line with the little I know and taught me some new things. Alan Kardec asked 1019 questions to mediums throughout Europe. Quite an interesting man. It does seem Spiritism is an offshoot of Spiritualism. It followed so soon after the Fox sisters’ experience! It must have taken off very quickly across the ocean when news didn’t travel that fast ordinarily. Or did it. So glad you didn’t disparage the Fox sisters. Theirs is a rather convoluted story, and they had a difficult life. It must have been difficult for them NOT to suffer negative effects, coming forth at that time. And so interesting that these spiritual paths (and others) arose during such a flowering of materialistic science. The spirit flows where it will, and we feel it, but know not where it is going – and certainly cannot prevent it. Thanks again. Many good regards.
Hello,
You seem like a kind man. I once attended a Spiritualist church with my then husband. It was our first and only time. The medium/minister selected my husband as being someone with whom a spirit present wished to address. The communication was from a great uncle who had a VERY timely and pertinent message for my husband, to the point where it completely convinced him of its reality.
I believed it also, 100% yet had no desire to continue to attend the church. The only Spirit whom I desired to have a relationship and communication was Jesus Christ. It took me many years until His Presence came into my experience one night in 1981. He absolutely was in my bedroom, He healed me utterly of a great despair and emotional depression, INSTANTLY. I have had a psychic, spiritual relationship with Him since. He functions just as He promised, as my teacher, guide and so on. I recognize that for others there may be other “gurus” from beyond the veil here. For many I know it is Yogananda. I have benefited greatly from Joel S. Goldsmith’s talks on youtube. He is definitely a good friend to me, from beyond, as he died in 1967.
Have you found a Spiritist church near you? I find that I can no longer attend a Catholic Mass and feel aligned with the dogma there. The entire doctrine that “Father God” required a blood sacrifice to be appeased is anathema to me. The Spiritist teaching is much more in line with what Jesus revealed to me as Truth in 1981.
Love!