April
Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies
Friday, February 24th, 1860
(General Session)
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Letter from Dieppe confirming all points of the spontaneous manifestations which took place in the house of a baker from Grandes-Ventes, near Dieppe, and reported in La Vigie (published in our March issue);
2nd – Letter from Mr. M. from Teil d’Ardèche, providing new information about manifestations which took place at Fons Castle, near Aubenas;
3rd – Letter from Baron Tscherkassoff, containing circumstantial and authentic details about a very extraordinary fact of spontaneous manifestation by a rapping spirit, which took place at the beginning of the century, with a manufacturer in St. Petersburg (to be published below);
4th – A report was given of an event of tangible apparition, having all the characteristics of an agénère (temporarily materialized spirit), which occurred last January 15th, in the village of Brix, near Valognes. The fact was transmitted to Mr. Ledoyen by someone acquainted with him and that verified its accuracy (published below);
5th – A text was read about a Muslim tradition regarding prophet Esdras, extracted from the “Moniteur” on February 15th 1860, based on a fact of mediumship.
STUDIES:
1st – Spontaneous essay by Charlet, received by Mr. Didier Junior, confirming the work already initiated;
2nd – Evocation of Mr. Jules-Louis C…, deceased on January 30th last, in the Val-de-Grâce hospital, as a consequence of a cancer which had destroyed part of his face and jaw;
This evocation was carried out following the wishes of one of his friends who was attending the session and another person who was a family friend. It is educational, above all, regarding the changes in our way of thinking after death, since Mr. C… was openly materialistic when alive.
3rd – St. Louis is asked if it would be possible to call the spirit that manifested in the house of the baker of Dieppe. He responds that he cannot, for reasons that would be understood later.
Friday, March 2nd, 1860
(Private Session)
Several administrative matters are analyzed and discussed.
Study and appreciation of several spiritist communications obtained at the Society and outside of the sessions.
Once asked to provide a spontaneous essay, St. Louis writes the following through Ms. Huet:
“Here I am my friends, ready to give you my advices as I have been doing so far. Beware of the bad spirits who may mingle among you, seeking to disseminate disunion. Unfortunately those who wish to become useful for the accomplishment of a task always find obstacles. They don’t find a generous person but someone willing to achieve a given intent. Have no fear. You shall triumph over all obstacles through patience and a firm attitude against voices that want to impose themselves. Regarding the multiple communications attributed to me, these are sometimes from another spirit that uses my name. I give few communications outside of the Society that I have taken under my sponsorship. I do appreciate these meetings, particularly devoted to me. It is only here that I like to give warnings and advices. Thus, beware of other spirits that sometimes use my name. May peace and union be among you! This is my wish in the name of God who created good. St. Louis
A member of the Society makes the following observation: “How come an inferior spirit may take over the name of a superior spirit without the latter’s consent? This can only happen with an evil intent. Then, why would the good spirits allow it to happen? If they cannot oppose that, does it mean that they are less powerful than the evil ones?
This was answered as follows: There is something more powerful than the good spirits: God. God may allow the bad spirits to manifest in order to help them to advance, and even more, to test our patience, our faith, our confidence, our resolve to resist to temptation, and above all to exercise our perspicacity in distinguishing between the true and false. It is up to us to have the will of keeping them away, proving to them that we are not toys in their hands. If they have authority over us, that is only due to our own weakness. Pride, jealousy and all human evil passions constitute their strength, giving them domination. We know out of experience that their obsession ends when they don’t succeed and tire of trying. Then, it is up to us to show them that they are wasting their time. If God wishes to test us, then no spirit can oppose that. Thus, the obsession of malevolent or mischievous spirits neither stems from their power nor from the weakness of the good ones, but from a will that is above them all. The greater the fight, the more merit we have, if we win.
Friday, March 9th, 1860
(Private Session)
The project containing proposed changes to the regulations of the Society are to be introduced as such.
Mr. Allan Kardec presents the following observations with that respect:
“Considerations about the objective and character of the Society
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Some people seem mistaken with respect to the true objective and character of the Society; allow me to remind you of that, in a few words.
The objective of the Society is clearly defined in its own title and in the preamble of the existing bylaws; that objective is essentially, and one may say, exclusively, the study of the Spiritist Science. What we want, before anything else, is not to convince ourselves, since we are already convinced, but to get instructed and learn what we still don’t know. In order to get there we need to position ourselves in the most favorable way; since those studies require calmness and reverence we want to avoid anything that may cause disruption. Such is the consideration that must prevail in the appreciation of the measures that we adopt.
Starting from that principle, the Society then is in no way a vehicle of propaganda. There is no doubt that each one of us wishes the dissemination of the ideas that are considered useful; in order to achieve that each one contributes in the circle of their relationships and according to their own capacities. Yet it would be false to believe that it is necessary to gather in society, and even more false to believe that the Society is the pillar without which Spiritism would be in jeopardy.
Since the Society is regularly established, it proceeds with more order and method than if marching serendipitously; but, besides all that, the Society is not more preponderant than thousands of free societies or private gatherings that do take place in France and abroad. Still once more, what it wants is instruction; that is why it does not admit in its heart but serious persons, animated by the same desire, considering that the antagonism of principles is a cause of disturbance. I mean a systematic antagonism about the fundamental basis, since the Society would not be able to put away the discussion of details without contradicting itself. If it has adopted certain general principles it is not due to a narrow spirit of exclusivism; the Society has seen it all, studied and compared it all, and only after all that that an opinion was formed based on experience and reason; only future can tell if the Society is right or wrong.
Meanwhile it seeks no supremacy and only those who don’t know the Society may suppose a ridicule pretension of absorbing all adepts of Spiritism or to be positioned as the universal regulator. If it did not exist, each one of us could learn independently, and instead of one meeting only we could perhaps have ten or twenty, that is the whole difference. We don’t impose our ideas to anyone; those who adopt them, it is because they find them fair; those who come to us believe that there is an opportunity to learn here but this is not like affiliation, since we neither form a sect nor a party; we gather for the study of Spiritism like others do for the study of Phrenology, History and other Sciences; and as our gatherings are not based on any material interest, we don’t mind that others are formed right beside us; truly, it would be the same as attributing us with very petty, narrow and puerile ideas if thought that we would see them with jealous eyes, and those who wanted to create rivalries would be showing for that very reason how little they understand the true spirit of the Doctrine; we would regret one thing only: that they don’t know us well enough to suppose that we are accessible to the ignoble feeling of envy. It is understandable that mercenary and rival companies which may be harmed by competition see each other with suspicious eyes; however, if these gatherings only aim at, as they should, an exclusively moral interest, if there is no commercial consideration intermingled with them, I then ask how they can be harmed by multiplicity. Some will certainly say that if there is no material interest on one side, there is self-love on the other, the desire to destroy the neighbor’s moral credit; but such a drive would be even more ignoble. If that were the case – certainly contrary to God’s wishes – we would only have to feel sorry for those moved by such thoughts. Do you want to overtake your neighbor? Do better than him; that is a noble and dignified fight, when it is not stained by envy and jealousy.
That is, ladies and gentlemen, an essential point which should not be out of sight, that we neither form a sect nor a society of propaganda, or a corporation with a common interest; if we ceased existing, Spiritism would suffer no damage and other twenty societies would be formed from our remains. One must understand that the roots of Spiritism are not in our Society but in the whole world. There is something more powerful than them, more influential than all societies: it is the Doctrine which reaches the heart and reason of those who understand it; and particularly of those who practice it.
These principles, ladies and gentlemen, tell us the true character of our regulations, which have nothing in common with the bylaws of a corporation; there is no contract bonding one to the others; outside our sessions we have no reciprocal obligation but to behave as educated people. Those who don’t find in these meetings what they expected to find have total freedom to leave, and I would not even conceive the idea of having them around since what we do here is not suitable to them. It would not be logical that they would come here to waste their time.
In every meeting one needs rules to maintain the good order; our regulation is then nothing but a word of order with the objective of establishing the organization of our sessions, keeping the relationship among the attendees civil and adequate, necessary to preside over every assembly of people of good manners, abstraction made of the conditions which are inherent to the specialty of our activities, since we don’t deal exclusively with human beings but also with the spirits that, as you know, are not all good spirits and that one must be on guard against the falsehood of some. Among them there are some very astute ones who can even push us towards a dangerous avenue, just for the hatred of good; it is up to us to exercise prudence and perspicacity to frustrate them, a fact that forces us to take special precautions.
Keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, the way by which the Society was formed. I used to receive in my house people in “petit comité” (small groups); as that number grew, people said: a larger place is in order. In order to have a larger place it will be necessary to pay for it and we then had to share the costs. It was also said: one needs order with the séances; we cannot admit the first one who shows up; then we need rules; and that is the whole story of the Society. It is very simple, as you see. The idea of founding an institution had not crossed anybody’s mind, or the occupation with any other business outside the studies, and I even declare very formally that if in any case the Society wanted to go beyond that objective I would not follow it.
What I have done, others are equally free to do the same on their side and at will, following their own tastes, ideas and particular viewpoints; and these different groups may understand each other perfectly well and coexist like good neighbors. As it is physically impossible to gather all adepts of Spiritism in the same place, unless a public area was used for the assemblies, those different groups must be fractions of a larger whole but not rival sects; and a given group, if becoming too large, may be subdivided like the swarms of bees. These groups already exist in large numbers and multiply every day. Well, it is precisely against such multiplicity that the ill faith of the enemies of Spiritism shall breakdown, for the obstacles would have the unavoidable effect, and by the force of things, of multiplying the private gatherings. By that, one must acknowledge that there is among certain groups a kind of rivalry, or even antagonism; what is the cause of that? Oh my god! That cause is in human fragility, in the spirit of pride that one wishes to impose; it is above all in the still incomplete knowledge of the true principles of Spiritism. Each one defending their principles like the Greek cities defended their gods in the former times who, one must recognize, were no one else but the more or less good spirits. Those dissidences only exist because there are people ready to judge before they have seen the whole picture or who judge from the standpoint of their restrict personalities; they shall fade away as many have already done so, while the Science is being formulated; truth is definitely one and it shall come out of the impartial assessment of the different opinions. Under the expectation that light will shine upon all points, who shall be the judge? Reason, you will say; but when two persons contradict one another, each one invokes their reason; what will be the superior reason to decide between those two reasons?
Without discussing the more or less pompous language, a form which the imposter and pseudo-clever spirits know well how to use in order to seduce by appearances, we start from the principle that good spirits give only good advices, those of union and concord; that their language is always simple, modest and full of benevolence, exempt of acrimony, arrogance and presumption, in short, that everything in them breathes the purest charity. Charity - that is the true criterion to judge the spirits and to judge oneself. Whoever finds a germ of rancor against their brother or sister when digging up their most inner soul, even a simple bad wish, may say to oneself that a bad spirit is soliciting them, since the maxim of Christ is forgotten: “you will be forgiven as you have forgiven.”
Thus, if there is rivalry between two spiritist groups the truly good spirits could not take the side of the one who had said anathema against the other since a sensible person could never believe that envy, rancor, malevolence, in short, every feeling against charity could stem from a pure source. Look and find the side in which there is more practical charity and not in words and you shall recognize effortlessly on which side the good spirits are, and consequently from whom one is more likely to expect the truth.
Such considerations, ladies and gentlemen, far from keeping us away from our subject, they place us on the right terrain. The regulations, seen from that perspective, totally lose their character of contract, assuming a much more modest one, that of simple disciplinary rule.
Every meeting, whatever their objective, must forearm against an obstacle which is the disordered characters that seem to have been born to spread disturbance and fissure everywhere; disorder and contradiction are their element. The spiritist sessions, more than the others, must fear them since the best communications are only obtained in calmness and reverence, incompatible with their presence and that of the sympathetic spirits that they bring along.
In summary, we must strive to remove all causes of disorder and interruption; keeping good relationships among us, which the sincere spiritists should give the example, more than others; we must oppose to any movement of the Society away from its objective, by not dealing with questions which are not in its scope, or paying the price to degenerate into an arena of personalism and controversy. Furthermore, we need to look for simplification in our procedures, facilitating the execution of the works. The more complicated the procedures the more we will have causes for disturbance; relaxation will come in by the sheer force of things and from relaxation to anarchy is only one step away.”
Friday, March 16th, 1860
(Private Session)
Regulations are discussed and modified.
Friday, March 23rd, 1860
(Private Session)
The persons are indicated and the whole Committee nominated.
STUDIES:
Two spontaneous essays were obtained, the first one from the spirit of Charlet, through Mr. Didier Jr.; the second through Mrs. Boyer, from a spirit who said to have been forced to come, accused for having tried to break the harmony, spreading disruption, provoking envy and rivalry among those who should be united. The spirit acknowledges his guilt on some of the charges. Such spontaneous confession, he says, is part of the punishment imposed on him.
Formation of Earth Theory of Planetary Incrustation
Letters from Dr. Morhéry about Ms. Désirée Godu
Varieties
The Manufacturer of St. Petersburg“In the beginning of the century there was a rich artisan in St. Petersburg that employed a large number of workers in his workshops. I can’t remember his name but I believe he was English. He was a rightful, decent, humane person, not only enjoying the good returns of his products but also ensuring the moral as well as physical well being of his workers who, in turn, offered the example of good behavior and an almost fraternal agreement. According to Russian costumes, still existent in our days, food and lodging were covered by the employer, where they occupied the upper floors and the attic of the same house. One morning several workers could not find their clothes after waking up, clothes they had set beside their beds before going to sleep. Nobody thought of robbery. They unsuccessfully questioned one another, suspecting that the most malicious ones could be tricking the group. Finally, thanks to their searches, all missing objects were found in the cellar, in the fireplaces and even on top of the roof. The boss warned everyone since nobody would confess wrongdoing. On the contrary, everyone protested innocence.”
“Some time later the same thing happened again. There was new recommendations, new protests. It gradually began to happen every night and the owner was really upset because he saw his work suffering and the threat of his workers leaving the house where, they said, supernatural things were taking place. Following the owner’s advice, a nightly watch was organized by the employees themselves in order to catch the offender, but it was unsuccessful. On the contrary, things changed from bad to worse. The workers had to climb dimly lit stairs to get to their rooms. When they would arrive, several of them received blows on the head and had their faces slapped. Whenever they tried to defend themselves they would only find emptiness, while the violence of the blows gave them the impression that they were dealing with a solid creature. This time the owner advised them to form two groups: one should stay on the top of the stairwell, the other on the bottom. Following that procedure the bad guy could not escape and would receive the deserved correction. However, the owner’s strategy failed once again. The two groups were badly beaten and one accused the other. The complaints became violent and as it reached the highest possible level of disagreement among the workers, the owner was even considering moving or shutting down the whole operation.”
“One evening he sat, sad and full of thoughts, surrounded by his family. Everyone was feeling disheartened when suddenly a huge noise was heard in the room next door, which was used as his office. He stood up promptly, looking for the cause of that noise. The first thing he saw was an open desk with a lit oil lamp. However, he had just closed that desk and put the light out. He approached the desk and saw a glass inkpot and a pen that did not belong to him and a sheet of paper on which he read still in fresh ink: “Have the wall in such a place taken down (above the stairwell). There you will find human remains which you will have buried in sacred land.” The owner grabbed the piece of paper and rushed to the police.”
“The day after they tried to identify the origin of the inkpot and the pen. They were shown to the neighbor who had their business on the ground floor and confirmed that the pieces were his. Once questioned about the person to whom he had given them, he said: “Last night I had already closed shop when I heard knocks on the window; I opened and saw a man whose looks were not familiar, who said: “I need you to give me an inkpot and a pen. I will pay for that.” I gave him the objects and he threw a large copper coin which I heard falling on the ground but I could not find it.”
“The wall was demolished at the indicated spot and there they found the human remains which were duly buried and everything went back to normal. The origin of that skeleton was never known.”
Facts of such a nature must have happened at all times and it can be seen that they were not provoked by the spiritist knowledge. It is understandable that in remote centuries or among ignorant people they have given rise to all kinds of superstitious assumptions.
Tangible Apparition
Mr. Lecomte did not fail his promise. The mass was celebrated on the 27th at the St. Savior Chapel and he saw his old comrade kneeling on the steps of the altar, near the vicar. Nobody else had seen him and although he had asked the priest and the assistants, they did not see him as well. Since then Lecomte was no longer visited, returning to his usual tranquility.
OBSERVATION: According to this report, whose authenticity is attested by a trustworthy source, it is not related to a simple vision but to a tangible apparition, since the deceased friend of Lecomte had shaken his hand. The incredulous will say that it was a hallucination. However, we still wait for their clear, logical and truly scientific explanation of the strange phenomena that they designate by that name, with the only objective, as it seems to us, of denying any solution.
Spontaneous Essays
The Angel of Children(Society, medium Mrs. de Boyer)
Advices
In the old days you would have been crucified, burnt at the stake, tortured. The force was diminished; the fire extinguished and the instruments of torture broken. The terrible weapons of ridicule; so powerful against the lies and weaken the will against the truth. Its fiercest enemies retracted into an impenetrable circle. In fact, denying the reality of our manifestations would be the same as denying the revelation that is the foundation of all religions. Attributing it to the devil, pretending that the evil spirit has come to comfort you; cultivate the Gospel, urging you towards the good; to practice all virtues, it is simply and happily only to prove that the spirit does not exist. Every divided kingdom shall perish. Bad spirits will remain. A good tree never produces bad fruits; a bad tree never produces good fruits. You have nothing better to tell them but what Christ used to tell his oppressors when they formulated the same accusations against him, begging for God’s forgiveness since they didn’t know what they were doing.
The Spirit of Truth
(Another essay dictated to Mr. Roze, and read at the Society)
France carries the banner of progress and she must guide the other nations. That is demonstrated by previous and current events. You were chosen to be the mirror which must receive and reflect the Divine light, which must illuminate Earth, up until now soaked in the darkness of ignorance and lies. However, if you are not animated by the love to thy neighbor and by a boundless devotion; if the desire of knowing and propagating the truth, whose paths you must open to posterity, is not the only motive driving your works; if the slightest shade of pride, selfishness and material interest find shelter in your hearts, we shall only be served by you like the artisan that temporarily uses a defective instrument. We will come to you up until the time when we have found or stimulated a center richer than you are in virtues, more sympathetic to the phalanx of spirits sent by God to reveal the truth to the people of good will. Give some serious thoughts to that. Dig deep into your hearts, probe their most intimate thoughts and vigorously expel the bad passions which keep us away, otherwise you must leave before risking the work of your brothers and sisters by your presence or by the presence of the spirits that you bring along with you.
Ostentation
In a beautiful spring afternoon a rich and generous man was sitting in his living room. He happily smelled the aroma of garden flowers while complacently tallying all the good deeds he had done that year. He could not avoid giving an almost despicable look at the house of one of his neighbors who gave but an almost insignificant contribution to the construction of the local church. As for me, he said, I gave more than a thousand francs to that work; I deliberately threw a 500 franc bill into the basket that the young Duchess circulated in favor of the poor; I gave much more to the beneficent parties, to all kinds of raffles and I believe God will be thankful for so much I have done. Ah! I forgot the small alms that I lately gave to an unfortunate widow who has a large family, still raising an orphan. However, what I gave her is so small that this is certainly not what is going to open the doors of heaven to me.
• You are mistaken, he suddenly heard from a voice that made him turn his head: that is the only one accepted by God; here is the proof. At the same time a hand erased everything he had listed on the piece of paper with all his good deeds, leaving the last one only, the voice and the paper went back into heaven.
Hence it is not the alms given with ostentation that is the best, but the one given with humility of heart.
Joinville, Amy de Loys.
Love and Freedom
God is love and freedom and it is through love and freedom that the spirit moves closer to God. Through love the spirit develops new relationships that get him closer to the unity in each existence; through freedom the spirit chooses the good that gets him closer to God. Be eager to spread the new faith but may the sacred eagerness that animates you never cast any harm upon the freedom of others! You must avoid mounting a kind of worn out and almost yielded resistance by insisting too much before a terrible and proud incredulity. The reign of coercion and oppression is over; it is time for reason, freedom and fraternal love. From now on, it is no longer by force and fear that the earthly powers will acquire the right of governing the moral, spiritual and material needs of its people but by love and freedom.
Immortality
How can an intelligent person not believe in the immortality of the soul and consequently in a future life other than that of Spiritism? What should become of that immense love that a mother devotes to her children, the great care since their infancy, and the enlightened dedication of a father to the education of a beloved son? All annihilated at the time of separation or death? Would we then be like animals whose instincts are undoubtedly remarkable but which no longer take care of their offspring beyond the time necessary to attend their maternal needs?
When that time has come parents abandon their children and it is all over: the body is raised, there is no soul. However, the individual would not have a soul, an immortal soul! How about the sublime genius that can only be compared to God, since it comes from God, that genius that generates prodigies, that creates masterpieces, all that would be annihilated by the individual’s death? What Profanation absurdity! One cannot destroy in such a way those God given things. Raphael, Newton, Michelangelo and so many other sublime geniuses still illuminate the world with their spirit, although their bodies no onger exist. Make no mistake; they live and shall live forever. As for the communication with you, that is more difficult to admit by the vast majority of people. It is only through the study and observation that they can be ensured of such possibility.
Fénelon
Parable
An old ship was hit by a terrible storm in its last journey. In addition to a large number of passengers, the ship transported to its final destination several foreign merchandise accumulated by the greed and cupidity of their owners. Danger was imminent. There was chaos aboard. The shipmasters refused to throw the load overboard. The orders were ignored since crew and passengers alike had lost their trust in them. It was time to consider abandoning ship. Three lifeboats were lowered. The most inexperienced, stunned and impatient rushed to the first one, swiftly rowing towards a dim light seen ashore. They soon fell in the hands of a group of castaways who took over the boat and then hastily collected the precious belongings, ruthlessly mistreating them.
The second group, more insightful, was able to distinguish a liberating lighthouse amidst the misleading lights that illuminated the horizon. They confidently allowed themselves to be dragged by the caprice of the waves, wrecking the boat against the coral reefs at the foothill of the lighthouse that kind of stared at them permanently. They felt their ruin and the loss of their properties as much as they had yearned their salvation.
The third group, less numerous but shrewd and sensible, carefully guided the boat through the wreckage, saving bodies and goods, not suffering except for fatigue after the trip.
Thus, don’t be content by only avoiding the bright lights of the shipwrecked and the bad spirits; but know how to avoid the mistakes of the idle ones, those who lost their goods and become shipwrecked at the port. Know how to navigate your ship through the wreckage of all passions and you shall happily get to the port of eternal life, carrying the wealth of virtues acquired in all your journeys.
St. Vincent de Paul
Spiritism
Spiritism is called upon to clarify the world but needs a certain time to advance. It has existed since creation but only acknowledged by a few persons since in general the masses don’t bother to give any thought to spiritist questions. Now, with the help of this pure doctrine, there will be a new light. God who does not wish to keep His children in ignorance allows the more elevated spirits to come to support us, countering the spirits of darkness who try to embrace the world. Human pride shades reason, leading to many mistakes. Simple and kind spirits are necessary to spread the light and mitigate all evils. Courage! Stay with this God pleasing work for it is useful to His greater glory and great good shall come from that for the salvation of the souls.
Francis de Sales
(Society, February 3rd, 1860 – Medium Mr. Colin)
Write this: Human beings! What is that? Where do they come from? Where are they going? God? Nature? Creation? The world? Their past and future eternity! Nature’s limit, relationships between the infinite and the private being? Passage from infinite to the finite? – These are questions that people should have framed, when for the first time and still a child, they saw with the eyes of reason the mysterious march of the celestial bodies above their head; Earth below their feet, alternatively dressed up in fancy clothes in the shaking wind of spring or covered by the mantle of mourning, under the cold breath of winter; thinking and feeling they saw themselves suddenly thrown into this vital maelstrom between yesterday, the day of their birth, and tomorrow, the time of their death. These are questions asked by all people, at all times and in all schools, still enigmas to the future generations. Nevertheless, these questions deserve the attention of investigative spirits of your century, the genius of your country. Thus, if you had one person, ten people among you, aware of the high importance of their apostolic mission, willing to leave a stamp of their passage on Earth, as a milestone to posterity, I would tell them this: for a long time you have come to terms with the errors and prejudices of your time; the period of physical and material manifestations is over to you; what you call experimental evocations can no longer teach you much since in the majority of cases there is only curiosity at play. However, the philosophical era of the Doctrine is near. Do not remain attached to the rotting pillars any longer, but courageously enter the heavenly sanctuary, firmly raising the flag of modern philosophy, in which you fearlessly will inscribe: mysticism, rationalism. Be eclectic in modern eclecticism; do as the ancients did, supported by the historical, mystical and legendary tradition, always observing the revelation though, an illuminating torch that we have all missed, resorting to the lights of the superior spirits, missionary devoted to the march of the human spirit. Those spirits, however elevated they may be, they don’t know everything. Only God does. Besides, they cannot reveal everything that is known to them. Where would the individual’s free will be then, his responsibility, merit and demerit, and also the sanctioning of punishment or reward? Yet, I can provide you with the guidelines containing some fundamental principles. Hence, listen to this:
1st – The soul has the power of separating from matter;
2nd – The soul can elevate well above intelligence;
3rd – Such state is beyond reason;
4th – It can put people in touch with everything that escapes their senses;
5th – Human beings can incite it by praying to God, by a constant struggle, reducing their soul to the state of pure essence, so to speak, denying sensitive and exterior activity; in a word, by abstracting everything that there is varied multiple, indecisive, chaotic, of exteriority inside the soul;
6th – There is up until now a completely ignored force in the very self of the individual. Thus, search for that.
Communications Read at the Society
My friend, don’t you know that the person who follows the path of progress is always faced by ignorance and envy? Envy is the dust lifted by your steps. Your ideas cause revolt to certain people because they don’t understand them or muffle the voice of their conscience with their pride, which proclaims in turn: what you repeal now shall one day be brought back to you by your judge. It is God’s hand reaching out to you to remove you from the quagmire in which you were thrown into by your own passions. Listen to the voice of reason for a moment. Consider that you live in the century of money, dominated by the self; that the love for things dries your heart out, overloading your conscience with your faults, and even crimes which must be confessed. Unfaithful people who call themselves skillful, your skills will wreck you. You shall be offered no help. You turned a blind eye to the misfortunes of others and you shall go down without a tear dropped on your behalf. Stop! There is still time. May regret get into your hearts; may it be sincere and God shall forgive you. Look for the unfortunate ones, who dare not to complain, slowly killed by their misery, and the poor relieved by your gestures will have your name in their prayers; they shall bless the hand that may perhaps save their daughter from dying of hunger and dishonoring shame. Disgrace will fall upon you if your ears are deaf to their voices. God told you, through the sacred mouth of Christ: love your neighbor as yourself. Hasn’t God given you reason to judge between good and evil? Hasn’t God given you a heart to have pity on the sufferings of your equals? Don’t you feel that you are suppressing the voice of charity and progress by suppressing your own conscience? Don’t you feel as if you are dragging an empty body? Don’t you feel as if nothing beats in your chest, making your walk in uncertainty?
As you have fled the light and your eyes have become of the flesh, you are filled with darkness and fear that agitates you. You search, but it is too late to leave this road that is crumbling under your feet. Fear that you cannot define, you judge as superstitious. You pretend to be generous, hoping to redeem your selfish life; you give alms with the fear that you will snatch it back, but God knows what drives you. You cannot deceive God. Your life shall end hopelessly and you won’t be able to push it back by a single day. It shall end, despite your wealth, ambitioned in anticipation by your children, since you have given them the example. Like you, they have a unique love for gold, their only dream of happiness. When that time of justice comes, you will have to face the supreme and forgotten Judge.
Your daughter
Each person has in one’s innermost self what you call an interior voice. It is what the spirits calls conscience, a severe judge overseeing all actions of your life. When the individual is alone one hears that conscience and ponders things in their fair value. The person is sometimes ashamed of oneself. At that moment one acknowledges God but ignorance, that fatal advisor, pushes the person away, dressing one up with the mask of pride. It shows itself full of emptiness, seeking to deceive you by its arrogance. But the righteous person does not hold a proud head; one thoughtfully listens to the words of wisdom; one feels that God is everything. The person seeks enlightenment in the book of nature, written by the Creator’s hand. One’s spirit elevates, expelling from one’s body the material passions which frequently veer oneself off course. That dragging passion is a dangerous guide.
Stay strong my friend and let the skeptical laugh since one’s laughter shall end. The human being becomes a believer at the time of one’s death. My friend, keep God in your thoughts, the only one who will not deceive you. Keep in mind that there is only one path leading to God: faith and love to one’s fellow being.
Ones (By Mrs. D…)
Your thoughts are absorbed by earthly things. If you want to listen to us you must forget them. Let us try to talk from a higher level. May your spirit elevate to those regions, the dwelling of the elected ones by the Lord. Behold the worlds that await all mortals, whose places are set according to the merits they have earned. What happiness is found by those dedicated to the sacred things, to the great teachings given in the name of God! Oh men! How little you are compared to the spirits parted from matter, who inhabit the spaces by the glory of the Lord! Happy are those invited to dwell the worlds where matter is not but a word; where everything is ethereal and translucent; where disagreements are no longer heard. Heavenly music is the only noise that clears the senses, so perfect capturing the tiniest sounds, of which are called harmony! How graceful are all those creatures so much loved by God! What a subtleness when moving about those enchanted regions, their refuge! No more disagreements, envy or hatred there; love has become the link destined to unite them all. Such a love which fulfills their hearts, the end in itself, summarizes faith, love and charity.
A friend
(Another, by the same medium)
Your obliviousness afflicted me. Don’t leave me any more for such a long time without calling me. I feel prepared to speak with you and give you advice. Be careful and don’t believe everything the other spirits might tell you; they could perhaps lead you to the wrong path. Before anything else, be sensible so that your God given mission is not denied to you, and do as follows: help to bring to people’s attention the revelation about the existence of the spirits around them. Not everyone is ready to understand and appreciate the elevated reach of these things, whose knowledge God only allows to the elected ones. There shall be a day in which this Science, full of greatness and consolation, will be shared by the whole human race, when there will no longer be a single skeptical. People will then have a hard time to understand how such a tangible truth could have ever been disputed by the simplest of the mortals. In truth, I tell you that half a century will not go by without having the ears and eyes of everyone open to this great truth: that the spirits circulate in space and occupy different worlds, according to their merit before God’s eyes; that the true life is in death and that the individual needs to redeem many times before obtaining the eternal life, achieved by everyone in more or less centuries of suffering, according to their more or less faith before the teachings of the Lord.
(By Mrs. Netz)
The individual’s freedom is totally individual. One was born free but such a freedom is sometimes one’s disgrace. Moral freedom, physical freedom, it all goes together but often lacks discernment, what you call common sense. If a person has spirit but lacks discernment it is as if one had nothing because what shall be done of the spirit if it cannot be governed; if the necessary intelligence to lead the spirit is not there; if the individual thinks to be walking the good path when in reality one is in a swamp; if one always thinks to be right when in reality one is wrong? Discernment may take the place of the spirit but the spirit can never replace discernment. It is a necessary quality and when we don’t have it we must make every effort to acquire it.
(By Mrs. L…)
Your doctrine is beautiful and sacred. The groundwork has been laid and firmly positioned. All you have to do now is to move forward. The path before you is ample and majestic. Blessed will be the one who arrives at the port. The more proselytes you have made the more shall be counted in your favor. But the doctrine must not be coldly embraced for that. One needs eagerness, which shall double since God is always with you when you do good deeds. Those that you bring with you shall be the other sheep to add to the herd. Poor stray sheep! Believe me, the most doubtful, the most atheist, as well as the most skeptical always have a little spot in their hearts which they would like to hide from themselves. Very well! That is the spot that you must look for, that you must find, the vulnerable side that is necessary to attack. It is a small gap intentionally left open by God, facilitating to God’s creature the means of coming back to God’s heart.
St. Benedict
(By Mr. Rabache, from Bordeaux)
My children, your father did well in calling your attention to the phenomena produced in your séances for some days now. Assessing them on the basis of the instructions of certain sectarian spirits, ignorant where they rule, that these things are supernatural. Don’t believe that my children. Nothing that has happened is supernatural. If it were, your common sense would tell you that it would only happen outside of nature and then it could not be seen. In order that your eyes or the other senses may be able to perceive something, it is totally necessary that such a thing be natural. Once you give some thought to that, you will see that there is not a single serious spirit who may lead you to believe in supernatural things. Having stated that, I don’t mean that there are not things which may appear as such to your intelligence but the only reason for that is that you don’t understand them yet. When a given fact seems to escape what you consider natural be aware of that laziness of spirit which would lead you to believe that it is supernatural. Make the effort to understand it. That is why intelligence was given to you. What good would it do to you if you were to be satisfied by the teachings and beliefs of your predecessors only? It is necessary that each one puts their intelligence at the service of progress which is the collective work of everybody. Since you are gifted with intelligence, think; since you have discernment – and you have it for a reason – analyze and judge. Do not accept pre-judgment but make sure that the subject has passed through the crucible of reason. Be skeptical while you are not sure but never deny something that you do not understand. Give serious examination. Only the lazy, the indifferent one accepts as true or false everything they see as accepted or denied. Finally, my children do your outmost to become serious and useful so as to accomplish the mission assigned to you. It is never too early to get involved with the good and to do good deeds. Thus, start early to get involved with serious things. Time of futility is always too long and useless to your progress that you must always keep in mind. The earthly things are nothing; they only serve to help your transition to another state, which shall be more perfect the better you have prepared it.
Your grandmother