The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1860

Allan Kardec

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Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies

Friday, October 5th 1860
(Private Session)

Committee meeting.

Minutes and works of the August 24th session were read.

After having received a letter requesting membership from Mr. B… and after having had the report and verbal appreciation by the Committee, the Society admits Mr. B, a Parisian trader, as a member.

MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:

1st – Mr. Allan Kardec reports the result of his trip on behalf of Spiritism and gladly mentions the warm reception he received everywhere and especially in Sens, Macon, Lyon and Saint-Etienne. He was able to attest to the considerable progress of Spiritism in every place he visited; however, what is worth mentioning is that he has not seen people making use of Spiritism as a distraction. In all places people were seriously involved and understood its reach and its future consequences. There are still many opponents, no doubt, from which the most bloodthirsty have self-serving interests but the number of mockers have reduced noticeably.

Seeing that their sarcasm does not invite the jokers to their side, and that those do more favor than harm to the progress of the new beliefs, they start to understand that they have nothing to gain and waste their energy in a useless loss, thus they go silent. A good word to characterize the agenda everywhere, is that: Spiritism is in the air. It shows well the state of things. But it is in Lyon that the results are more impressive. Spiritism is present in large numbers in all social classes there, having hundreds of members in the working class. Spiritism has exerted the healthiest influence upon the working class from the standpoint of organization, moral and religious ideas. In short, Spiritism propagates with the most encouraging speed.

Mr. Allan Kardec reads the speech given by Mr. Guillaume during the banquet offered to him by the spiritists of Lyon followed by his response.

In recognition for the testimonies of sympathy that the comrades of Lyon gave to the Society, it returns a message of acknowledgement whose outline was submitted to the Committee which made amendments. The message will be transmitted by the President.

Mr. Allan Kardec met Mr. R… in Saint-Etienne, hearing from him the description of a system that was dictated to him through what he calls unconscious writing. His system will be object of a special study in the future.

Besides, he reports a very curious case of physical obsession of a person from Lyon; of a case of clairvoyance, that he witnessed, and a phenomenon of transfiguration that took place near SaintEtienne, with a young lady that at certain times took the complete appearance of her brother, deceased a few years back.

2nd – Report given of a remarkable case of a spirit’s identity, which occurred on a ship from the imperial navy, anchored in the China Sea. The fleet surgeon, present at the session, reported the fact. Everyone on the ship, from the lowest seaman recruit to the highest officer ranks were involved with evocations but nobody knew the means of obtaining written communications; hence, alphabetical typtology was used. Someone had the idea of evoking a lieutenant that had died two years ago. Among other details, he said: “I insist that you pay the captain the amount of…(the value is indicated), that I owe him, and I regret not being able to pay him back before I died.” Nobody knew the fact. The captain himself had forgotten all about it but checking his accounts he found a note about the lieutenant’s debt, whose value was absolutely identical to the number indicated by the spirit.

3rd – Mr. de Grand-Boulogne reads a nice piece of poetry that he dedicated to his familiar spirit.

STUDIES:

1st – Questions addressed to St. Louis about his apparition to a medium from Lyon, in the presence of Mr. Allan Kardec. He answers: “Yes, it was me. It was my duty to stay with the director of the Society that I sponsor.” Other questions about the physical impression produced in certain writing mediums by the good and bad spirits.

2nd – Evocation of Mr. Ch. de P…, who was found drowned and whose death was considered a suicide. He denies the account and tells us that accidental causes led to his death.

3rd – Spontaneous essay signed by Lamennais, received by Mr. D…

Friday, October 12th, 1860
(General Session)

Committee meeting.

Presided by Mr. Jobard, honorary President from Brussels. Works and minutes of the October 5th session were read.

MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:

1st – Multiple communications received by Mrs. S… were read: The Orphans, signed by Jules Morin. Others signed by Alfred de Musset: The Queen of Ouda, by Nicolas.

2nd – A spontaneous essay signed by St. Louis was read, received by Mr. Darcol, containing several pieces of advice for spiritists.

3rd – Letter from Mr. J… from Terre-Noire, to Mr. Allan Kardec, about the painful impressions caused in him by the explanation of Mr. R… system.

STUDIES:

1st – Evocation of Saul, King of the Jews. He states that he is not the one communicating through Ms. B… The spirit that communicates in the group of that young lady had taught a particular system whose main points are: 1st – The older the earthly existence of the spirit, the more advanced it is, and consequently St. Louis is less advanced than him because he had died more recently.

2nd – The spirits only incarnate on Earth, in three incarnations only, not more, not less, being that sufficient for them to move from the lowest to the highest level of the scale.

Since Mr. Allan Kardec had fought this theory as irrational and denied by facts, the spirit insisted on trying to change his mind. He was evoked and proved incapable of sustaining his theory, but he did not give in, asking to be heard in another private session and through his customary medium.

NOTA: The session was held a few days later and the spirit persisted with the name Saul, King of the Jews. Nonetheless, under the pressure of the questions he gave proofs of the most absolute ignorance saying, for example, that the incarnation of the spirits only takes place on Earth because this is the only solid planet. In his opinion all other globes are gaseous and could not serve the purpose of being inhabited by corporeal beings. When his theory was contested by the phenomena of eclipses of the Sun he argued that the Sun had never been eclipsed by Mercury or Venus, a fact that the astronomers were not always in agreement about.

This fact demonstrates once more that the spirits are far from having the whole science and also how much it is necessary to be on guard against systems that out of pride, some of them try to impose through a few beautiful maxims. This one, despite his arrogance, showed his weak spot with the ridiculous theory of the planets, demonstrating that he must have been less educated than the last student, which does not mean a lot regarding his condition. When these spirits find an audience to their words with a blind trust they take advantage; however, they will be less frequent the more we are aware of the need to submit every communication to the strictest crucible of logic and reason. When these spirits see that people are no longer deluded by the respectable names that they take and that they cannot impose their utopias, they will understand they are wasting their time and will be silent.

2nd – Evocation of the spirit that communicates through Mr. R… and that has also dictated a complete system to him. This study shall be carried out later.

3rd – Spontaneous essay received by Mr. D… about infused science, signed by St. Louis. This communication seems to have been provoked by the subjects discussed during the session. 4th – Drawing obtained by Ms. J… and signed by Ary Scheffer. 5th – Evocation of Nicholas by Ms. J… As usual he manifests violently, saying: “Asking me to calm down is to ask me not to be myself. As you see I still burn. The breath of battle has taken me over.” Questioned why he was so calm with Ms. S… he said: “I had used an interpreter to avoid breaking this delicate creature; I was able to produce good and beautiful thoughts but I could not write them myself.” Another spirit manifests spontaneously through Ms. J… Given his extreme kindness, calm, correct and almost framed writing, contrasting with the notably nervous, wide and impatient writing of N…, the medium believes to recognize John the Evangelist, that has manifested several times in that way. He talks about the efficacy of the prayer and reminds the prophecies of the Apocalypse which find application these days.

Friday, October 19th, 1860
(Private Session)

Committee meeting.

The works and minutes of the previous session were read.

By recommendation of the Committee and after a verbal report, Mr. G… trader from Paris, and Mr. D…, employee of the Post Office, were admitted as members.

MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:

1st – A communication received by Mrs. S… from her brother was read. It is remarkable by the elevation of thoughts, demonstrating the affection of the spirits by their loving ones on Earth.

2nd – Mrs. Desl… reads the evocation of a former maid who died when working for her family. This evocation, in which the spirit demonstrates her attachment and good feelings, offers a remarkable particularity regarding the language details, similar to people from rural areas, having the spirit preserved even with those who were familiar to her.

3rd – A case of identity regarding the spirit of Mr. Charles de P…, who was evoked on the October 5th session. The person to whom he had manifested in Bordeaux, and who had evoked him again in the first days of this month, that person learned through him that he was called to the Society where he had confirmed what he had said before about the accidental cause of his death. Soon after the person received a letter from Mr. Allan Kardec giving details of the evocation at the Society.

4th – Report of several cases of vaporous and tangible apparitions, and also transportation of material objects that took place with Mr. de St.-G…, present at the session, as well as with one of his relatives. These cases will be examined later.

STUDIES:

1st – Evocation of the spirit that manifested visually to Mr. de St.-G… He gives some explanations but indicates that he prefers to communicate through his usual medium.

2nd – Evocation of a spirit that uses the name Balthazar, spontaneously revealed to Ms. H…, showing gastronomical dispositions. This evocation offers great interest from the point of view of the study of non-dematerialized spirits, who still keep the instincts of the earthly life.

3rd – Three spontaneous essays were received: the first by Mr. Didier Jr, about Christianity and signed by Lamennais; the second by Mrs. Costel, about the inferior spirits, signed by Delphine de Girardin; the third by Ms. Huet: The kiss of peace, a parable signed by Channing.

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