The Revue Spirite of 1861

Part 2

We continue in this issue the study of the Revue Spirite of 1861, a monthly newspaper focused on the divulgation of Spiritism, founded and directed by Allan Kardec. This study is based on the translation into the Portuguese language made by Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL. The answers to the proposed issues are at the end of the text for reading.

Issues for discussion

A. How do Spirits make objects move?

B. Concerning the scarcity of mediums, what did Kardec say?

C. What is the reason for the flexibility that some mediums present?

Text for reading

19. The Revue informs that the phenomena produced by Mr. Squire, who, having nothing new, can be cataloged in the category of the transport phenomena, suspension and displacement of objects. (Pages 41 to 43)

20. Kardec explains that when an object moves, it is not the Spirit that takes it with its hands: it saturates it with its own fluid, combined with the animalized fluid of the medium, and can then move it by the will. (Page 44)

21. Kardec reminds us that we should not mistake the so-called battering Spirits with those who communicate by means of taps, which is a form of manifestation that can be used by Spirits of any order. (Page 47)

22. Writing about the scarcity of mediums, Kardec says that mediums are very common. However, good mediums are rare. Therefore, it is not enough to possess the mediumistic faculty to obtain good communications. (Page 48)

23. In the absence of mediums, Kardec suggests the activities that the group should carry out. (Pages 49 and 50)

24. Mentioning the book of Louis Figuier, who opposes the Spiritist Doctrine, Kardec recommends its reading and states: "To prohibit a book is to prove that we fear it". (Page 51)

25. The Revue copies the final part of Mr. Canu's letter, an ex-materialist, about unbelief. (Page 52)

26. The family Spirit, says Canu, is not exactly the guardian angel taught by the Church. (Page 56)

27. The Revue publishes the communication of a materialist and atheist man, who drowned himself voluntarily two years earlier. The reason for suicide, according to the Spirit: "Boredom of a life without hope". (Pages 58 and 59)

28. Kardec comments: "Suicide is understood when life is hopeless: one wants to escape unhappiness at all costs. With Spiritism the future unfolds and hope is legitimized: suicide, therefore, has no purpose". (Page 59)

29. Explaining how evocations occur, Kardec says that the Spirits do not always answer our call; it is required that they can, or want to do it, and that there is an available medium who has the special aptitude to do so. (Page 63)

30. Saint Louis explains why there are few mediums with such great flexibility as Miss. Eugenia: the cause is physical rather than moral. The liveliness of the medium is purely physical; the Spirit does not interfere in this. (Page 64)

31. Moral qualities, says St. Louis, influence the sympathy that is established among the Spirits, for some have such an antipathy for certain mediums, that only when they overcome their great repugnance do they communicate through them. (Pages 64 and 65)

32. Georges (Spirit) says that after leaving the body, only a small number can communicate with their friends in this meeting. They must have earned that right. (Page 67)

33. The Spirit of Gerard de Nerval states: "Interest and selfishness are the two bad geniuses of the financier and the new-rich; pride is the addiction of the one who knows and, above all, of the one who has the power". (Page 68)

34. Rene de Provence (Spirit) informs that in other worlds, when superior to the Earth, harmony is eternal: what the human imagination can invent does not equal this constant poetry that is in all of Nature. (Page 70)

35. Kardec comments on the attack made by Mr. Emile Deschanel against the Spiritist Doctrine and states that the "jokes" of the detractor of Spiritism do not deserve to be answered. (Pages 71 to 81)

36. Mr. Deschanel, says Mr. Kardec, endeavors to prove that the perispirit is matter. "But that's what we definitely say", emphasizes the Encoder. (Page 74) (Continues on next issue). 

Answers to the issues

A. How do Spirits make objects move?

At first it was thought that they moved them with their own hands. Later it was found that when an object moves, it is not the Spirit who takes it with his hands. He saturates it with his own fluid, combining it with the medium's animated fluid, and can then move it by the will. (Revue Spirite, 1861, page 44).

B. Concerning the scarcity of mediums, what did Kardec say?

The Encoder said there is no shortage of mediums: what happens is that good mediums are rare. This is the reason why it is not enough to be endowed with the mediumistic faculty to obtain good communications: something else is needed. (Revue Spirite, 1861, page 48). 

C. What is the reason for the flexibility that some mediums present?

The cause of this flexibility is physical rather than moral. St. Louis says that the liveliness of the medium is purely physical. His Spirit does not interfere in this. Moral qualities, in fact, are what influence the sympathy that is established among Spirits; some have such an antipathy for certain mediums that only when they overcome their great repugnance are they able to communicate through them. (Revue Spirite, 1861, Pages 64 and 65).