Modern Spiritualism

Spiritualism is constantly increasing all over the world. We can already see a great many evil effects from this deceitful agency. This book shows the origin, claims, and tendency of Modern Spiritualism. Chapter VI shows how disastrously it has failed to fulfill its promises and pretensions. Chapter VII presents the prophecies which have foretold the rise and progress of this deceptionin the last days, and how it is a most startling sign our times and of the nearness of the end. - 1. Opening Thought ... 2. What Is the Agency in Question? ... 3. The Dead Unconscious. 4. They Are Evil Angels ... 5. What the Spirits Teach ... 6. Its Promies: How Fulfilled. 7. Spiritualism a Subject Of Prophecy-Conclusion

Since its birth in 1848, Spiritualism as a religion, science, and philosophy has experienced great highs and lows. At the center of this purely American-made modern-religious movement are "mediums"--the people who are able to communicate, in some way, with spirit entities that are no longer on the earth plane. Based on three years of on-site investigation, and a plethora of data and research collected on the modern Spiritualist movement in America, Talking to the Other Side focuses upon the ethno-religious aspects of the religion, mediumship, and the mediums themselves. The first four chapters offer an expansive review of the history of religion in America, mediumship, and the Spiritualist movement. Chapters 5-7 comprise the research and data that were compiled and analyzed based on fieldwork analysis, a comprehensive questionnaire, personal interviews, and published literature on the topic of Spiritualism and mediumship. According to Spiritualist mediums, "people don't die, bodies do." Talking to the Other Side offers a contemporary look into the lives and backgrounds of the mediums who bridge this world and the Spirit world, connecting those who have passed over with those they left behind.

Shows how some of the ideas about the afterlife presented by spiritualism helped to shape popular Christianity in the period.

Talking to the dead and communication with 'the other side' is often presented as a taboo in an increasingly technological and medically advanced world. However, practices of spiritualism and mediumship continue to remain popular and in high demand within contemporary Western societies. This book analyses the practices of today’s mediums, who insist on standing at the threshold between life and death, interpreting signs and passing on communications, and asks how such concepts and practices are perceived by contemporary society. Using first-hand material gathered from alternative fairs, mediumistic congresses, séances, and interviews with both practitioners and clients, as well as thorough textual analysis, Anne Kalvig provides a clear overview of the various forms of consumption of mediumship in Western society and places these within a socio-cultural, religious and historical context. She also raises questions as to the controversies surrounding spiritualism and its representation and relationship with popular culture and the media. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of sociology, religious studies, folklore, media studies and anthropology as well as to anyone interested in the upsurge of contemporary spiritualism, psychic phenomena and the paranormal.

This pioneering account of Modern Spiritualism in late 19th and early 20th-century Scotland is a compelling history of the international movement's cultural impact on Scottish art. From spirit-mediums creating séance art to mainstream artists of the Royal Scottish Academy, this exposition reveals for the first time the extent of Spiritualist interest in Scotland. With its interdisciplinary scope, Modern Spiritualism and Scottish Art combines cultural and art history to explore the ways in which Scottish art reflected Spiritualist beliefs at the turn of the 20th century. More than simply a history of the Spiritualist cause and its visual manifestations, this book also provides a detailed account of scepticism, psychical research, and occulture in modern Scotland, and the role that these aspects played in informing responses to Spiritualist ideology. Utilising extensive archival research, together with in-depth analyses of overlooked paintings, drawings and sculpture, Michelle Foot demonstrates the vital importance of Spiritualist art to the development of Spiritualism in Scotland during the 19th century. In doing so, the book highlights the contribution of Scottish visual artists alongside better-known Spiritualists such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Daniel Dunglas Home.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1860.

In "A Defence of Modern Spiritualism," Alfred Russel Wallace, the outstanding biologist and co-founder of the idea of evolution, departs from his scientific foundations to address the increasing spiritualist motion of the 19th century. Wallace, mentioned for his highbrow interest and open-mindedness, makes a sturdy case in desire of spiritualism, a religion machine primarily based on connection with spirits. Wallace's book makes use of his private stories, studies, and testimonials to argue for the truth of spiritualist practices. Wallace, who's normally linked with clinical rigor, uses his analytical thoughts to investigate and guard spiritual reviews, difficult skeptics and striving to reconcile spiritualist ideas with contemporary scientific and theological perspectives. "A Defence of Modern Spiritualism" exemplifies Wallace's diversity as a thinker, demonstrating his willingness to have a look at unusual areas of information. While it may appear to be a departure from Wallace's evolutionary pursuits, the book shows his willpower to intellectual studies and his desire to recognize the various elements of the human revel in.