Spiritualist Advertising Flyer 1940\'s WWII Era Long Beach CA Historical EXC RARE

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Spiritualist Advertising Flyer 1940\'s WWII Era Long Beach CA Historical EXC RARE:
$49.99

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Offered for sale is a vintage spiritualist\'s advertising flyer, Le Dell\'s Temple of Inquiry - Long Beach California (circa 1940\'s WWII Era),which features great period style graphics front side / back, and is a unique piece of Americana and historical artifact (see bio info below). The flyer measures 14\" x 8.5\", is in \"Very-Good\" condition (see details above), and is suitable for framing and display. The asking price is$49.99 with FREE shipping/handling (U.S. Domestic), and is theonly example of it\'s kind offered for sale on . Overseas buyers please add for additional shipping costs, and CA State Residents please add 10% sales tax.Thanks for visiting my sale listing, and feel free to contact me if you have further questions or comments.

Spiritualism
By 1853, when the popular songSpirit Rappingswas published, Spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity.Part ofa seriesonSpirituality

Category

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Spiritualismis a belief thatspiritsof the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. Theafterlife, or \"spirit world\", is seen by Spiritualists, not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs: that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans, leads Spiritualists to a third belief, that spirits are capable of providing useful knowledge aboutmoralandethical issues, as well as about the nature ofGod. Thus, many Spiritualists will speak of theirspirit guides— specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance.[1][2]Spiritism, a branch of Spiritualism developed byAllan Kardecand today found mostly inContinental EuropeandLatin America, especiallyBrazil, has emphasisedreincarnation.

Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, especially inEnglish-speaking countries.[2][3]By 1897, Spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in theUnited StatesandEurope,[4]mostly drawn from themiddleandupper classes.

Spiritualism flourished for a half century without canonical texts or formal organization, attaining cohesion through periodicals, tours by trance lecturers, camp meetings, and the missionary activities of accomplished mediums. Many prominent Spiritualists were women, and like most Spiritualists, supported causes such as theabolition of slaveryandwomen\'s suffrage.[2]By the late 1880s the credibility of the informal movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums, and formal Spiritualist organizations began to appear.[2]Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominationalSpiritualist churchesin the United States, Canada and theUnited Kingdom.

Contents[hide]

• 1Beliefs
  • 1.1Mediumship and spirits
  • 1.2Compared with other religions
• 2Origins
  • 2.1Swedenborg and Mesmer
  • 2.2Reform-movement links
  • 2.3Believers and skeptics
  • 2.4Unorganized movement
  • 2.5Other mediums
• 3Evolution
• 4After the 1920s
  • 4.1Syncretism
  • 4.2Spiritualist church
  • 4.3Psychical research
• 5See also
• 6Notes
• 7References
• 8Further reading
• 9External links

Beliefs[edit]

Although various Spiritualist traditions have their own beliefs, known asPrinciples, there are some shared concepts:[citation needed]

A belief in spirit communication.
• A belief that thesoulcontinues to exist after the death of the physical body.
• Personal responsibility for life circumstances.
• Even after death it is possible for the soul to learn and improve
• A belief in aGod, often referred to as \"Infinite Intelligence\".
• The natural world considered as an expression of said intelligence.

Mediumship and spirits[edit]

Spiritualists believe in communicating with the spirits of discarnate humans. They believe thatspirit mediumsare humans gifted to do this, often throughséances. Anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes. Theafterlifeis not a static place, but one in which spirits evolve. The two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits may lie on a higher plane—lead to a third belief, that spirits can provide knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as aboutGodand theafterlife. Thus many members speak ofspirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance.[1][2]

Anyone may receive spirit messages, but formal communication sessions (séances) are held by \"mediums,\" who can then provide information about theafterlife.[1]

Compared with other religions[edit]Spiritualism was equated by someChristianswithwitchcraft. This 1865broadsheet, published in theUnited States, also blamed Spiritualism for causing theCivil War.Christian Protestantism

As Spiritualism emerged in a Protestant Christian Environment, it acquired features in common withProtestantism, ranging from its moral system to practices such as Sunday services and the singing of hymns. Nevertheless, on significant points Christian Protestantism and Spiritualism are different. Spiritualists do not believe that the works or faith of a mortal during a brief lifetime can serve as a basis for assigning a soul to an eternity ofHeavenorHell; they view the afterlife as containing hierarchical \"spheres,\" through which each spirit can progress. Spiritualists differ from Protestant Christians in that the Judeo-ChristianBibleis not the primary source from which they derive knowledge of God and the afterlife: for them, their personal contacts with spirits provide that.[1][2]

Most dramatically, Christianity, following the Council of Nicaea and the teachings of Paul (\"And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God\" - Job 19:26), has traditionally asserted that there will be a bodily resurrection of the dead, and a physical, not merely spiritual, afterlife. This view is self-evidently incompatible with Spiritualism, where the merely spiritual existence is superior to the embodied one.[citation needed]

There are quite a number of Spiritualist churches which are explicitly Christian in theology, forms of worship and praise, and liturgical orientation. Among these Christian Spiritualist groups are the historically African American denominations collectively known as theSpiritual Church Movement, a group which includes multi-church organizations such as the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ,[5]and Pentecostal Spiritual Assemblies of Christ International.[6]

Judaism

It is held by some adherents of the Jewish religion that Spiritualism is strictly forofferden by the Bible (Old Testament). InLeviticus, one of the books concerning God\'s laws toMoses, it is written that God says: \"I will set my face against the person who turns tomediumsand spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.\" (Leviticus 20:6).[citation needed]

On the other hand, among Jews who are inclined toward Spiritualism it is common to refer to trance mediumship as \"prophecy,\" a \"vision,\" or a \"dream,\" and to cite as a counter-text the verse from Numbers 12:6 in which God says, \"Hear my words: If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream.\"[7]

Islam

WithinIslam, only rarely do some traditions - notablySufism, consider communication with human spirits possible.[8]Most Muslims deem it impossible.

Despite this, the majority of the followers of Islam believe in the existence of spirits as a fundamental aspect of their religion. However, these spirits are not those of humans but of a third sapient creation said to be made by God (other than the creation of man and angels) called theJinn. Jinn are spirits made from smokeless fire, in a realm not visible to the eyes of people, who are also subject to follow the laws of God and, alike to people, may enter eitherHeavenorHell. A famous jinn in the Muslim tradition is none other thanSatan, as opposed to the Christian belief that he is a fallen angel. Communication with these \'spirits\', whether the spirit is good or evil in nature, is generally not encouraged in Islam.

Additionally, the concept ofTawassulrecognises the existence ofGood Spiritson aHigher Planeof existence closer to God, and thus people may ask something from God through their virtue.

Spiritism

Spiritism, the branch of Spiritualism developed byAllan Kardecand today found mostly inBrazil, has emphasised reincarnation. According toArthur Conan Doyle, most British Spiritualists of the early 20th century were indifferent to the doctrine of reincarnation, few supported it, while a significant minority were opposed, since it had never been mentioned by spirits contacted inséances. Thus, according to Doyle, it is the empirical bent ofAnglophoneSpiritualism—its effort to develop religious views from observation ofphenomena, that kept Spiritualists of this period from embracing reincarnation.[9]

Occult

Spiritualism also differs fromoccultmovements, such as theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawnor the contemporaryWiccancovens, in that spirits are not contacted to obtain magical powers (with the exception of power for healing). For example,Madame Blavatsky(1831–91), the founder of theTheosophical Society, only practiced mediumship to contact powerful spirits capable of conferringesoteric knowledge.Blavatskydid not believe these spirits were deceased humans, and held beliefs in reincarnation different from the views of most Spiritualists.[2]Spiritualists at that time viewedTheosophyas unscientific and both occultist and cult-like. Theosophists viewed Spiritualism as unsophisticated and uncosmopolitan.[10]

Origins[edit]

Spiritualism first appeared in the 1840s in the \"Burned-over District\" ofupstate New York, where earlier religious movements such asMillerism, andMormonismhad emerged during theSecond Great Awakening.

This region of New York State was an Environment in which many thought direct communication withGodorangelswas possible, and that God would not behave harshly—for example, that God would not condemnunbaptisedinfants to an eternity inHell.[1]

Swedenborg and Mesmer[edit]Hypnotic séance. Painting by Swedish artistRichard Bergh, 1887.

In this Environment, the writings ofEmanuel Swedenborg(1688–1772) and the teachings ofFranz Mesmer(1734–1815) provided an example for those seeking direct personal knowledge of theafterlife. Swedenborg, who claimed to communicate with spirits while awake, described the structure of the spirit world. Two features of his view particularly resonated with the early spiritualists: first, that there is not a single hell and a singleheaven, but rather a series of higher and lower heavens and hells; second, that spirits are intermediates between God and humans, so that the Divine sometimes uses them as a means of communication.[1]Although Swedenborg warned against seeking out spirit contact, his works seem to have inspired in others the desire to do so.

Mesmer did not contribute religious beliefs, but he brought a technique, later known ashypnotism, that it was claimed could induce trances and cause subjects to report contact with supernatural beings. There was a great deal of professional showmanship inherent to demonstrations ofMesmerism, and the practitioners who lectured in mid-19th-century North America sought to entertain their audiences as well as to demonstrate methods for personal contact with the Divine.[1]

Perhaps the best known of those who combined Swedenborg and Mesmer in a peculiarly North American synthesis wasAndrew Jackson Davis, who called his system theHarmonial Philosophy. Davis was a practicingMesmerist,faith healerandclairvoyantfromPoughkeepsie, New York. His 1847 book,The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind,[11]dictated to a friend while in a trance state, eventually became the nearest thing to a canonical work in a Spiritualist movement whose extremeindividualismprecluded the development of a single coherent worldview.[1][2]

• Emanuel Swedenborg.

• Franz Mesmer.

• Andrew Jackson Davis, about 1860

TheFox sisters.Reform-movement links[edit]

Spiritualists often set March 31, 1848, as the beginning of their movement. On that date,Kate and Margaret Fox, ofHydesville, New York, reported that they had made contact with a spirit. What made this an extraordinary event was that the spirit communicated through rapping noises, audible to onlookers. The evidence of the senses appealed to practically minded Americans, and the Fox sisters became a sensation. However, the Fox Sisters in 1888 admitted that this \"contact\" with the spirit was a hoax. Shortly afterward they recanted that admission.[1][2]

Amy and Isaac Post,Hicksite QuakersfromRochester, New York, had long been acquainted with the Fox family, and took the two girls into their home in the late spring of 1848. Immediately convinced of the genuineness of the sisters\' communications, they became early converts and introduced the young mediums to their circle of radicalQuakerfriends.

It therefore came about that many of the early participants in Spiritualism were radical Quakers and others involved in thereforming movementof the mid-nineteenth century. These reformers were uncomfortable with established churches, because they did little to fightslaveryand even less to advance the cause ofwomen\'s rights.[2]

Cora L. V. Scott.Paschal Beverly Randolph.

The most popular trance lecturer prior to theAmerican Civil WarwasCora L. V. Scott(1840–1923). Young and beautiful, her appearance on stage fascinated men. Her audiences were struck by the contrast between her physical girlishness and the eloquence with which she spoke of spiritual matters, and found in that contrast support for the notion that spirits were speaking through her. Cora married four times, and on each occasion adopted her husband\'s last name. During her period of greatest activity, she was known as Cora Hatch.[2]

Another famous woman spiritualist wasAchsa W. Sprague, who was born November 17, 1827, inPlymouth Notch, Vermont. At the age of 20, she became ill withrheumatic feverand credited her eventual recovery to intercession by spirits. An extremely popular trance lecturer, she traveled about the United States until her death in 1861. Sprague was anabolitionistand an advocate ofwomen\'s rights.[2]

Yet another prominent spiritualist and trance medium prior to theCivil WarwasPaschal Beverly Randolph(1825–1875), of mixed race, who also played a part in theabolitionmovement.[12]Nevertheless, many abolitionists and reformers held themselves aloof from the movement; among the skeptics was the eloquent ex-slave,Frederick Douglass.[13]

Believers and skeptics[edit]Audiences paid to see Houdini expose the tricks of fraudulent mediums.

In the years following the sensation that greeted the Fox sisters, demonstrations of mediumship (séancesandautomatic writing, for example) proved to be a profitable venture, and soon became popular forms of entertainment and spiritual catharsis. The Fox sisters were to earn a living this way and others would follow their lead.[1][2]Showmanship became an increasingly important part of Spiritualism, and the visible, audible, and tangible evidence of spirits escalated as mediums competed for paying audiences. As independent investigating commissions repeatedly established, most notably the 1887 report of theSeybert Commission,[14]fraud was widespread, and some of these cases were prosecuted in the courts.[15]

Despite numerous instances of chicanery, the appeal of Spiritualism was strong. Prominent in the ranks of its adherents were those grieving the death of a loved one. Many families during the time of theAmerican Civil Warhad seen their men go off and never return, and images of the battlefield, produced through the new medium ofphotography, demonstrated that their loved ones had not only died in overwhelmingly huge numbers, but horribly as well. One well known case is that ofMary Todd Lincolnwho, grieving the loss of her son, organized séances in theWhite Housewhich were attended by her husband, PresidentAbraham Lincoln.[13]The surge of spiritualism during this time, and later duringWorld War I, was a direct response to those massive battlefield casualties.[16]

In addition, the movement appealed to reformers, who fortuitously found that the spirits favored suchcauses du jouras equal rights.[2]It also appealed to some who had amaterialistorientation and rejected organized religion. The influentialsocialistandatheistRobert Owenembraced religion following his experiences in Spiritualist circles.

Many scientists who investigated the phenomenon also became converts. They includedchemistandphysicistWilliam Russel Richet. Nobel laureatePierre Curietook a very serious scientific interest in the work of mediumEusapia Palladino.[18]Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifistWilliam T. Stead(1849–1912)[19]andphysicianand authorArthur Conan Doyle(1859–1930).[16]

Conan Doyle, who lost his son as a result of the war, was also a member ofThe Ghost Club. Founded inLondonin 1862, its focus was the scientific study of alleged paranormal activities in order to prove (or refute) the existence of paranormal phenomena. Famous members of the club have includedCharles Dickens, Sir William Crookes, SirWilliam F. BarrettandHarry Price.[20]Pioneering AmericanpsychologistWilliam Jamesstudied spiritualism, publishing supportive conclusions. TheséancesofEusapia Palladinowere attended by investigators includingPierreandMarie Curie. The celebrated New York City physician,John Franklin Gray, was also a well-known and prominent Spiritualist in New York City.[21]

The claims of spiritualists and others as to the reality of ghosts were investigated by theSociety for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882. The Society set up a Committee on Haunted Houses and a Literary Committee which looked at the literature on the subject.[22]

Prominent investigators who exposed cases of fraud came from a variety of backgrounds, including professional researchers such asFrank Podmoreof the Society for Psychical Research orHarry Priceof theNational Laboratory of Psychical Research, and professionalconjurerssuch asJohn Nevil Maskelyne. Maskelyne exposed theDavenport Brothersby appearing in the audience during their shows and explaining how the trick was done. During the 1920s, professional magicianHarry Houdiniundertook a well-publicised campaign to expose fraudulent mediums. He was adamant that \"Up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains.\"[23]

The psychical researcherHereward Carringtonexposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums such as those used in slate-writing,table-turning, trumpet mediumship, materializations, sealed-letter reading andspirit photography.[24]The skepticJoseph McCabedocumented many mediums who had been caught in fraud and the tricks they used in his bookIs Spiritualism Based on Fraud?(1920).[25]

Magicianshave a long history of exposing the fraudulent methods of mediumship. Early debunkers includedChung Ling Soo,Henry EvansandJulien Proskauer.[26]Later magicians to reveal fraud wereFulton Oursler,Joseph Dunninger, andJoseph Rinn.[27]

In February 1921Thomas Lynn Bradfordcommitted suicide in an experiment designed to ascertain the existence of an afterlife. No further communications were received from him after this date.

• Frank Podmore, ca. 1895.

• William Crookes. Photo published 1904.

• Harry Price, 1922.

Unorganized movement[edit]

The movement quickly spread throughout the world; though only in theUnited Kingdomdid it become as widespread as in the United States.[3]Spiritualist organizations were formed in America and Europe, such as the London Spiritualist Alliance, which published a newspaper calledThe Light, featuring articles such as \"Evenings at Home in Spiritual Séance\", \"Ghosts in Africa\" and \"Chronicles of Spirit Photography\", advertisements for\"mesmerists\"andpatent medicines, and letters from readers about personal contact with ghosts.[28]In Britain, by 1853, invitations to tea among the prosperous and fashionable often includedtable-turning, a type of séance in which spirits would communicate with people seated around a table by tilting and rotating the table. A particularly important convert was the French pedagogistAllan Kardec(1804–1869), who made the first attempt to systematise the movement\'s practices and ideas into a consistent philosophical system. Kardec\'s books, written in the last 15 years of his life, became the textual basis ofSpiritism, which became widespread in Latin countries. InBrazil, Kardec\'s ideas are embraced by many followers today.[1][2][29]In Puerto Rico, Kardec\'s books were widely read by the upper classes, and eventually gave birth to a movement known asMesa Blanca(White Table).

Middle-classChicagowomen discuss Spiritualism (1906).

Spiritualism was mainly amiddle-andupper-classmovement, and especially popular with women. U.S. spiritualists would meet in private homes for séances, at lecture halls for trance lectures, at state or national conventions, and at summer camps attended by thousands. Among the most significant of the camp meetings were Camp Etna, inEtna, Maine; Onset Bay Grove, inOnset, Massachusetts;Lily Dale, in westernNew York State;Camp Chesterfield, inIndiana; theWonewoc Spiritualist Camp, inWonewoc, Wisconsin; andLake Pleasant, inMontague, Massachusetts. In foundingcamp meetings, the spiritualists appropriated a form developed by U.S. Protestant denominations in the early nineteenth century. Spiritualist camp meetings were located most densely in New England, but were also established across the upper Midwest.Cassadaga, Florida, is the most notable spiritualist camp meeting in the southern states.[1][2][30]

A number of spiritualist periodicals appeared in the nineteenth century, and these did much to hold the movement together. Among the most important were the weeklies theBanner of Light(Boston),The Religio-Philosophical Journal(Chicago),Mind and Matter(Philadelphia),The Spiritualist(London), andThe Medium(London). Other influential periodicals were theRevue Spirite(France),Le Messager(Belgium),Annali dello Spiritismo(Italy),El Criterio Espiritista(Spain), andThe Harbinger of Light(Australia). By 1880, there were about three dozen monthly spiritualist periodicals published around the world.[31]These periodicals differed a great deal from each other, reflecting the great differences among Spiritualists. Some, such as the BritishSpiritual Magazinewere Christian and conservative, openly rejecting the reform currents so strong within Spiritualism. Others, such asHuman Nature, were pointedly non-Christian and supportive of socialism and reform efforts. Still others, such asThe Spiritualist, attempted to view spiritualist phenomena from a scientific perspective, eschewing discussion on both theological and reform issues.[32]

Books on the supernatural were published for the growing middle class, such as 1852\'sMysteries, by Charles Elliott, which contains \"sketches of spirits and spiritual things\", including accounts of theSalem witch trials, theCock Lane Ghost, and theRochester Rappings.[33]The Night Side of Nature, by Catherine Crowe, published in 1853, provided definitions and accounts of wraiths, doppelgangers, apparitions and haunted houses.[34]

Mainstream newspapers treated stories of ghosts and haunting as they would any other news story. An account in theChicago Daily Tribunein 1891, \"sufficiently bloody to suit the most fastidious taste\", tells of a house believed to be haunted by the ghosts of three murder victims seeking revenge against their killer\'s son, who was eventually driven insane. Many families, \"having no faith in ghosts\", thereafter moved into the house, but all soon moved out again.[35]In the 1920s many \"psychic\" books were published of varied quality. Such books were often based on excursions initiated by the use ofOuija boards. A few of these popular books displayed unorganized Spiritualism, though most were less insightful.[36]

The movement was extremely individualistic, with each person relying on her own experiences and reading to discern the nature of theafterlife. Organisation was therefore slow to appear, and when it did it was resisted by mediums and trance lecturers. Most members were content to attendChristianchurches, and particularlyUniversalistchurches harbored many Spiritualists.

As the Spiritualism movement began to fade, partly through the bad publicity of fraud accusations and partly through the appeal of religious movements such asChristian Science, theSpiritualist Churchwas organised. This church can claim to be the main vestige of the movement left today in the United States.[1][2]

Other mediums[edit]Eusapia Palladino

In the late 19th century the British mediumWilliam Eglintonclaimed to perform spiritualist phenomena such as movement of objects andmaterializations. All of his feats were exposed as tricks.[37][38]

William Stainton Moses(1839–92) was anAnglicanclergyman who, in the period from 1872 to 1883, filled 24 notebooks withautomatic writing, much of which was said to describe conditions in the spirit world. However,Frank Podmorewas skeptical of his alleged ability to communicate with spirits andJoseph McCabedescribed Moses as a \"deliberate impostor\", suggesting hisapportsand all of his feats were the result of trickery.[39][40]

London-bornEmma Hardinge Britten(1823–99) moved to the United States in 1855 and was active in spiritualist circles as a trance lecturer and organiser. She is best known as a chronicler of the movement\'s spread, especially in her 1884Nineteenth Century Miracles: Spirits and their Work in Every Country of the Earth, and her 1870Modern American Spiritualism, a detailed account of claims and investigations of mediumship beginning with the earliest days of the movement.

Eusapia Palladino(1854–1918) was anItalianSpiritualistmediumfrom the slums ofNapleswho made a career touringItaly,France,Germany,Britain, theUnited States,RussiaandPoland. Palladino was said by believers to perform spiritualist phenomena in the dark: levitating tables, producingapports, and materializing spirits. On investigation, all these things were found to be products of trickery.[41][42]

Helen Duncan

Adelma Vay(1840–1925),Hungarian(by authored many books about spiritism, written inGermanand translated intoEnglish.

Mina Crandona spiritualist medium in the 1920s was known for producing anectoplasmhand during her séances. The hand was later exposed as a trick when biologists found it to be made from a piece of carved animal liver.[43]In 1934, the psychical researcherWalter Franklin Princedescribed the Crandon case as \"the most ingenious, persistent, and fantastic complex of fraud in the history of psychic research.\"[44]

The American voice mediumEtta Wriedtwas exposed as a fraud by the physicistKristian Birkelandwhen he discovered the noises produced by her trumpet were caused by chemical explosions induced by potassium and water and in other cases by lycopodium powder.[45]

Another well known medium was the Scottish materialization mediumHelen Duncan. In 1928 the photographer Harvey Metcalfe attended a series ofséancesat the house of Duncan. During a séance he took various flash photographs of Duncan and her alleged \"materialization\" spirits including herspirit guide\"Peggy\".[46]The photographs that were taken reveal the \"spirits\" to be fraudulently produced, such as adollmade from a painted papier-mâché mask draped in an old sheet.[47]Duncan was later tested byHarry Priceat theNational Laboratory of Psychical Research. Photographs of Duncan in his laboratory revealed her ectoplasm to be made fromcheesecloth, rubber gloves and cut-out heads from magazine covers.[48][49]

Evolution[edit]

Spiritualists reacted with an uncertainty to the theories ofevolutionin the late 19th and early 20th century. Broadly speaking the concept of evolution fitted the spiritualist thought of the progressive development of humanity. At the same time however, the belief in the animal origins of humanity threatened the foundation of the immortality of thespirit, for if humans had not been created by God, it was scarcely plausible that they would be specially endowed with spirits. This led to spiritualists embracingspiritual evolution.[50]

The spiritualists\' view of evolution did not stop at death. Spiritualism taught that after death spirits progressed to spiritual states in new spheres of existence. According to spiritualists evolution occurred in thespirit world\"at a rate more rapid and under conditions more favourable to growth\" than encountered on earth.[51]

In a talk at the London Spiritualist Alliance, Rev. John Page Hopps (1834–1911) supported both evolution and spiritualism. Hopps claimed humanity had started off imperfect \"out of the animal\'s darkness\" but would rise into the \"angel\'s marvellous light\". Hopps claimed humans were not fallen but rising creatures and that after death they would evolve on a number of spheres of existence to perfection.[51]

Theosophyis in opposition to the spiritualist interpretation of evolution. Theosophy teaches a metaphysical theory of evolution mixed withhuman devolution. Spiritualists do not accept the devolution of the theosophists. To theosophy humanity starts in a state of perfection (seeGolden age) and falls into a process of progressive materialization (devolution), developing the mind and losing the spiritual consciousness. After the gathering of experience and growth through repeatedreincarnationshumanity will regain the original spiritual state, which is now one of self-conscious perfection. Theosophists and Spiritualists were both very popular metaphysical schools of thought especially in the early 20th century and thus were always clashing in their different beliefs.Madame Blavatskywas critical of spiritualism; she distanced theosophy from spiritualism as far as she could and allied herself with Eastern occultism.[52]

Gerald Massey.

The spiritualistGerald Massey, claimed thatDarwin\'s theory of evolution was incomplete:

The theory contains only one half the explanation of man\'s origins and needs spiritualism to carry it through and complete it. For while this ascent on the physical side has been progressing through myriads of ages, the Divine descent has also been going on – man being spiritually an incarnation from the Divine as well as a human development from the animal creation. The cause of the development is spiritual. Mr. Darwin\'s theory does not in the least militate against ours – we think it necessitates it; he simply does not deal with our side of the subject. He can not go lower than the dust of the earth for the matter of life; and for us, the main interest of our origin must lie in the spiritual domain.[53]

Spiritualists believed that without spiritualism \"the doctrine of Darwin is a broken link\". Gerald Massey said \"Spiritualism will accept evolution, and carry it out and make both ends meet in the perfect circle\".[54]

A famousmediumwho rejected evolution wasCora L. V. Scott, she dismissed evolution in her lectures and instead supported a type Russel Wallace.

Alfred Russel Wallacebelieved qualitative novelties could arise through the process ofspiritual evolution, in particular the phenomena of life and mind. Wallace attributed these novelties to asupernaturalagency.[56]Later in his life, Wallace was advocate of spiritualism and believed in an immaterial origin for the higher mental faculties of humans, he believed that evolution suggested that the universe had a purpose, and that certain aspects of living organisms are not explainable in terms of purely materialistic processes, in a 1909 magazine article entitledThe World of Life, which he later expanded into a book of the same name.[57]Wallace argued in his 1911 bookWorld of lifefor a spiritual approach to evolution and described evolution as \"creative power, directive mind and ultimate purpose\". Wallace believednatural selectioncould not explainintelligenceormoralityin the human being so suggested that non-material spiritual forces accounted for these. Wallace believed the spiritual nature of humanity could not have come about by natural selection alone, the origins of the spiritual nature must originate \"in the unseen universe of spirit\".[58][59]

Oliver Lodgealso promoted a version of spiritual evolution in his booksMan and the Universe(1908),Making of Man(1924) andEvolution and Creation(1926). The spiritualist element in the synthesis was most prominent in Lodge\'s 1916 bookRaymond, or Life and Deathwhich revived a large interest for public in the paranormal.[60]

After the 1920s[edit]Main articles:Spiritualist Church,Spiritualists\' National Union,Survivalism (life after death)andSpiritualist Association of Great Britain

After the 1920s, Spiritualism evolved in three different directions, all of which exist today.

Syncretism[edit]

The first of these continued the tradition of individual practitioners, organised in circles centered on a medium and clients, without any hierarchy or dogma. Already by the late 19th century Spiritualism had become increasinglysyncretic, a natural development in a movement without central authority or dogma.[2]Today, among these unorganised circles, Spiritualism is similar to the New Age movement. However,Theosophywith its inclusion of Eastern religion, astrology, ritual magic and reincarnation is an example of a closer precursor of the 20th century New Age movement.[10]Today\'s syncretic Spiritualists are quite heterogeneous in their beliefs regarding issues such as reincarnation or the existence of God. Some appropriate New Age and Neo-Pagan beliefs, whilst others call themselves \'Christian Spiritualists\', continuing with the tradition of cautiously incorporating Spiritualist experiences into their Christian faith.

Spiritualist church[edit]Main articles:Spiritualist church,Spiritualists\' National Union,Spiritualist Association of Great BritainandSpiritual church movementArthur Conan Doyle, creator ofSherlock Holmes.

The second direction taken has been to adopt formal organization, patterned after Christian denominations, with established liturgies and a set of Seven Principles, and training requirements for mediums. In the United States the Spiritualist churches are primarily affiliated either with theNational Spiritualist Association of Churchesor the loosely allied group of denominations known as the spiritual church movement; in the U.K. the predominant organization is theSpiritualists\' National Union, founded in 1890.

Formal education in Spiritualist practice emerged in 1920s, with organizations like the William T. Stead Center in Chicago, Illinois, and continue today with theArthur FindlayCollege at Stansted Hall in England, and theMorris Pratt InstituteinWisconsin,United States.

Diversity of belief among organized Spiritualists has led to a few schisms, the most notable occurring in the U.K. in 1957 between those who held the movement to be a religionsui generis(of its own with unique characteristics), and a minority who held it to be a denomination within Christianity. In the United States, this distinction can be seen between the less Christian National Spiritualist Association of Churches and the more Christian spiritual church movement.

The practice of organized Spiritualism today resembles that of any other religion, having discarded most showmanship, particularly those elements resembling the conjurer\'s art. There is thus a much greater emphasis on \"mental\" mediumship and an almost complete avoidance of the apparently miraculous \"materializing\" mediumship that so fascinated early believers such asArthur Conan Doyle.[30]The first Spiritualist Church in Australia was the United Stanmore &Enmore Spiritualist Churchestablished in 1913. In 1921 Arthur Conan Doyle gave a farewell to Australia speech there.

Psychical research[edit]Main article:Parapsychology

Already as early as 1882, with the founding of theSociety for Psychical Research(SPR), parapsychologists emerged to investigate spiritualist claims.[61]The SPR\'s investigations into spiritualism exposed many fraudulent mediums which contributed to the decline of interest in physical mediumship.[62]

See also[edit]

Camp Chesterfield
• List of Spiritualist organizations
• Spiritism
• Spiritualism in fiction

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