Spiritualism (beliefs)
Mediumship is a modern form of shamanism and such ideas are very much like those developed by Edward Burnett Tylor in his theory of animism;[6] in which there are other parallel worlds to our own, though invisible to us and not accessible to us in our state.
Adherents of spiritualistic movements believe that the spirits of the dead survive mortal life, and that sentient beings from spiritual worlds can and do communicate with the living.
[9] In today's world, it is a growing phenomenon manifesting itself in traditional indigenous religiosity on all continents through non-aligned spiritualistic groups and many syncretistic movements and within elements of orthodox religions by which it is still seen as a challenge.
As early as 1787 M. Tardy de Montravel wrote that in the trance the soul of the "somnambule" became freed from its body and was able to intercourse with other spirits.
[28] Of the early French Spiritualist, Alphonse Cahagnet, publisher of spirit messages such as "Arcanes de la vie future devoiles" (1848), is one of its foremost cases.
Familiar with the teachings of Swedenborg, and interest evoked by contemporary German clairvoyants, in Paris of his day Cahagnet stood almost alone belonging to no school.
In Cuba, for instance, two fundamental variants of espiritism exist: La Mesa Blanca Spiritualism is the type of Espiritismo that made its way to US.
Practises brought over by African slaves from West Africa,[33] Mixed with indigenous South American tradition to develop their own flavour.
[38] In Puerto Rico, trance mediums feature in is spiritism[39] and in Cuba, syncretic spiritualistic practises similar to Santería are called Santerfa and enjoy an estimated five million Hispanic American followers.
[40] Spiritualism is also practised within India in both modern and ancient forms involving contacting the spirits, knowledge and wisdom of ancestors who are then worshiped for generations.
In 'A Tale of goddesses, money, and other terribly wonderful things: spirit possession, commodity fetishism, and the narrative of capitalism in Rajasthan', anthropologist J.G.
[47] Trance mediumship and channelling are also practised by the unrelated new religious movement called, the Brahma Kumaris[48][49] who have their headquarters in the state.
Henry Olcott of the Theosophical Society went to length to draw correlations between Eastern spiritualistic practises and Modern Spiritualism.
[52] Early twentieth-century Chinese psychical researchers used the theories of hypnosis and suggestion as a framework through which to clarify the scientific rationale underlying the efficacy of such healing methods as talismans, meditation, spirit-writing, acupuncture and daoyin.
Mita Koichi (1885–1943), a psychic and Deguchi Onisaburo (1871–1948) Leader of Ohmoto, a Japanese Shinto sect who practised channelling known as Chinkon-kijin.
distinctions are made between god-like and spirit-like beings, with gods representing the moral order and spirits dealing with periphery issues, both through channelling, mediumship and possession.
[58] In Micronesia, recently deceased kin often appear as spirit visitors and possess female relatives in order to provide comfort and guidance.
[59] During this liminal period, spirits must learn how to "be dead", while the living struggle to reconcile themselves to the corporeal death and new spiritual life of the departed.
Spiritualistic practices play an important role in helping individuals to understand death as a journey when it is also marked by social rupture and the problems of grief and attachment.
[60] In Australia, Aborigine tribes in Victoria called spirits Mrarts, understood to be the souls of "Black Fellows dead and gone", not demons unattached.
[61] The mediums, now very scarce, are Birraarks who were consulted as to matters present and future, whose practises include the 'spirit-rapping' known to the Modern Spiritualists and whistles, heard in certain Brazilian séances.
[74] The phenomena of Spiritualism consist of; prophecy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, gift of tongues, laying on of hands, healing, visions, trance, apports, revelations, raps, levitation, automatic and independent writing and painting, photography, materialization, psychometry, direct and independent voice, and any other manifestation lending support to the continuity of life after death.
[75] Such universal practises and the giving of spiritual guidance, the different manifestations of spiritualistic activities were categorised by Sir William Crookes, a highly distinguished British physicist and chemist, as being: Women have historically had a fairly constant interest in the spirit world.
[76] Historically, the majority of mediums for tromba spirits amongst the Sakalava have also been adult women, usually in their forties or older and is likewise associated with female status.
Carl Jung's doctoral dissertation was not medical research but the investigation of a medium, his maternal cousin, Hélène Preiswerk.
