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The
Mediums’
Book
in its
150th
year
Launched
in
January
1861,
this
work,
which is
part of
the
Kardekian
Pentateuch,
continues
to be
fundamental
to those
such as
mediums
and
leaders
who
operate
in the
field of
mediumship |
In present
times, there
isn’t a more
opportune
compendium of
experimental
Spiritism than
The Mediums’
Book or Guide
for Mediums and
to those who
evoke Spirits,
of authorship of
the master Allan
Kardec.
It came to light
in the
beginnings of
January 1861 and
was edited by
Mr. Didier. This
work, according
to the Codifier
1 ,
consists of a
complement of
The Spirits’
Book, with its
scientific
nature. Later
on, Kardec would
go on to
consider it in
the list of key
works of
Spiritism.
Back then, it
could be
acquired from
Mr. Didier’s
bookshop, as
well as from
Spirite Revue’s
(Spiritist
Magazine)
office, situated
in Saint-Anne
passage, in
Paris, in large
volume in-18
with 500 pages.
Within a few
months of the
same year the
book had a
second edition,
with a new
formatting and
revised entirely
by the Spirits
and their
numerous
valuable
observations, so
that Kardec
expressed the
work to be as
much as theirs
as its author
2 .
I try to imagine
the emotion of
mediums and
spiritist
centre’s serious
leaders in 1861
on finding safe
orientation for
the development
and happy
direction of
mediumship in
the Kardekian
production, in
service of a
deeper
understanding of
the invisible
world because
mediumship was
enlightened by
the knowledge
produced within
the
inter-existential
collaboration
between the
Lyonnais master
and the Higher
Spirits who in
their turn, were
directed by the
Spirit of Truth.
A safe guide to
deal with
mediumship
It is not only
another book. It
is an
indispensable
work in the area
of studies and
meditations
around
mediumship so
that its
exercise becomes
a service to the
fellow being, be
it by truthful
finding of the
immortality of
the soul and the
identification
of our spiritual
nature, be it
through the
creative and
moralising
dialogue with
the ones who are
always
alive(spirits),
and still
through the
clarification
that one can
give to
discarnate ones
who are
suffering and
whose
unhappiness
await the
therapeutics of
the Gospel of
Jesus through
the fraternal
words of the
re-incarnate,
under the
auspices of the
Spiritual
Benefactors.
This work,
brought to
fruition by
Allan Kardec, is
a result of a
long
experimental
research with
Spirits and
mediums, where
the scientist on
establishing a
method of trial
in line with the
researched
object (the
world of the
Spirits and the
philosophy
taught by the
Immortals),
considers its
spiritual
informers not as
predestined
disclosers but
as partners of
studies, each
one contributing
relatively to
its evolutionary
level.
In The
Mediums’ Book
the Codifier
successfully
explains
everything that
was relative to
physical and
intellectual
spiritual
manifestations
in its historic
context
according to the
Superior
Spirits, in
order to develop
a spiritist
theory which
explained the
most varied
phenomena
produced by the
inhabitants from
the Beyond, as
well as of the
conditions for
its reproduction
and
methodological
control.
In the
announcement of
the book he
makes in the
Revue Spirite
(Spiritist
Magazine) he
highlights that
“especially the
theme related to
the development
and the exercise
of mediumship
deserved a very
special
attention from
our part 3
.
Thereby, in this
consideration
from the author
we are invited
to take into
consideration
that we can,
especially
Spiritists, reap
from its content
a guide for the
safe development
of mediumship
(in the
Kardekian
meaning, a
educative
process of the
medium) and as
well as for the
healthy use of
this organic and
natural
predisposition
which is rooted
in the Spirit’s
communicative
capacity, when
it is ostensibly
manifested.
The studious
reader of this
work finds in
the book
conditions to
understand the
phenomenology
around
mediumship that
one may be a
bearer of; and
the theoretical
resources to
successfully
deal in the path
of lucid
consorting with
Spirits as well
as for adequate
coping with its
challenges and
obstacles which
if faced without
due knowledge,
generate
deceptions and
sad results,
such as
obsession and
the immoral use
of mediumship.
On the other
hand, regarding
the formation of
a leader or
“indoctrinator”
(evoketeur, as
Kardec named the
responsible
person to talk
to the Spirits
during the
spiritist
meetings) the
work is equally
of high value so
that we take on
with
righteousness
the ever
instructive
talks with
discarnate
spirits and
being possible
to present to
them questions
that favours
moral and
intellectual
clarification
for all of us,
for which Kardec
guides us.
4
Finally, a
convinced
spiritist finds
in this book an
aid to better
understand
Spiritism in its
complexity, in
so far as the
work reveals
essential
aspects of the
experimental
character of the
Doctrine of the
Spirits.
In favour of the
Spiritist Mopal
and Philosophy
With the coming
of The
Spirits’ Book,
Spiritism
lefd behind its
period of
curiosity which
was frequentli
characterised by
non-serious
speculadion, at
level of
entertainment in
which the
spiritist
phenomena were
placed at by
many people in
Europe in the 19th
Century,
and entered dhe
philosophic
or observation
period in which
“SpiritIsm is
deepened and
becomes
purified,
tending po phe
unity of
S`iRitist
phalksophy and
becoming
Science. 5
Kardec qaw
Spiritism as a
Moral Science
6
`nd, on wpiting
The Mediums
Book, hd
left an
unforgettable
legacy,
foreseeing well
before the
personalistic
and jealous
criticisms which
wanted to
enforcd
particular
systems for the
conduct of
mediumistic
works, or still,
in the
excdusivist
explanations of
these, without
the seal from
the
collective
teaching of the
Spirits.
Besides, the
scientist of the
invisible gives
a reason to be
serious towards
mediumistic
phenomenology;
so that the
serious and
useful teachings
from the Spirits
are reaped for
our happiness in
the spiritual
life, thus
avoiding the
detour from the
providential
purpose of
mediumship at
the spiritist
exercises.
Responding to
his critics, who
perhaps supposed
the severity of
the principles
and advices
obtained in this
work as
unnecessary, and
without desiring
to establish
a school but
to disseminate
the guidance to
mediumship
within Spiritism
given by the
Superior
Spirits, Kardec
places as a main
banner of this
proposal its
moral and
philosophic
character, above
all in favour of
those who
perceive
themselves in
need of the
hopes and
consolations
that they may
drawn from
Spiritist Faith
and in the
results of the
mediumistic
activity under
the higher
guidance from
Jesus.
In this year of
commemorations
of the 150th
anniversary of
The Mediums
Book we
shall try to
study this
essential book
in the field of
mediumship with
Jesus and Kardec,
with great
gratitude at
collective and
individual
level.
Studying Kardec
“We ourselves
can see in our
writing
excursions, the
healthy
influence that
this work has on
the direction of
the practical
spiritist
studies. Thus
deceptions and
mystifications
are much less
numerous than
before, because
it taught the
means of
thwarting the
wiles of the
deceiving
Spirits.” 7
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