Category:Working Within the Spiritualist Tradition
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
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Spiritualism centers around the belief that spirits of the dead are able to communicate with the living, whether via dreams or other signs, or through the assistance of a gifted spirit medium. Thus, Spiritualism is first and foremost a belief, and then, secondarily, a form of religion.
As a belief -- and written with a small "s" -- spiritualism embraces a wide variety of indigenous and folkloric practices, such as African and African-Diasporic ancestral traditions. As a religion -- and written with a capital "S" -- Spiritualism encompasses a varity of organized bodies of practice and worship.
Diversity of Spiritualist Beliefs
Spiritualist churches, organizations, and associations do not adhere to a single creed; in fact, some groups specifically renounce the concept of having a creed and prefer that each member understand the truth of spirit contact through personal experience. Even when it comes to the theological question of the after-life, there is no uniformity of belief among Spiritualist churches. Some Spiritualist organizations endorse the concept of the Summer-Land or the Other Side as a place where spirits reside after physical death, while other organizations endorse the idea of ongoing spiritual reincarnation in physical bodies on Earth.
Members of one Spiritualist body are not bound to accept the cosmology, theology, or specific beliefs taught within another body that differs widely from their own, hence these organizations are considered as separate denominations in the over-arching religion of Spiritualism or, in the case of Christian Spiritualism, to be separate denominations comprising a Spiritualist branch of Christianity. However, within the broad scope of religious Spiritualism, there are certain definable sub-groupings or lineages, and many of these groups are aligned into formal associations or denominations.
Modern Spiritualism
The movement known as Modern Spiritualism originated 1848 when the Fox sisters, living in rural New York state, came into communication with the spirit of a deceased man named Charles Rosna. This phenomenon lead to the study of spiritual contact and to its development as a religion. Modern Spiritualism is a movement that, like Protestantism before it, can trace its origins to a specific moment in time, and that has subsequently given rise to many independent religious lineages.
The early pioneers of Spiritualism were closely associated with the movements for the abolition of slavery, for female suffrage, and for Native American political rights, and these liberal and justice-driven concerns remain a proud heritage in most Modern Spiritualist churches.
A variety of sources have influenced the development of the many differing Modern Spiritualist denominations. Among these influences, one can often see traces of Protestant Christian, Pentecostal Christian, Catholic Christian, Quaker, New Thought, Deist, Hindu, Buddhist, Theosophical, and Neo-Pagan concepts, beliefs, and customary practices.
Some Spiritualist church denominations -- especially those associated with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) in the United States and the Spiritualist National Union (SNU) in England -- encourage mediumship but find magic, spell casting, and magic spells to be offensive, while other Spiritualist denominations -- especially those associated with the historically African American Spiritual Church Movement -- may, in addition to mediumship, permit, encourage, or even institutionalize the use of other divinatory arts, such as psychic reading, scrying, and crystal ball gazing, and may also lead members in altar work with fixed and prepared candles, and other forms of magical spell casting.
"Pure" Spiritualistm
The term "Pure" Spiritualism is a catch-all phrase that describes a number of churches that state that Spiritualism is a religion separate from all other religions, and that it is specifically not Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or a part or portion of any other religion.
"Pure" Spiritualism traces its development in a direct lineage from the Fox Sisters of Hydesville, New York, whose spirit contacts ushered in what is known as the era of "Modern Spiritualism." Some churches within this group have attempted to appropriate the term "Modern Spiritualism" as an exclusive self-definition, but that term actually is far broader in scope and refers to all of the world-wide Spiritualist traditions that arose after the mid-19th century.
Bodies within this group offer development classes in mediumship and healing services for the benefit of parishioners are held regularly, as are evidentiary demonstrations in which mediums deliver messages from the spirits of the dead. Most of these churches emphatically reject the concept of reincarnation and refer to the afterlife as "Summer-Land." Many of them use the sunflower as their official emblem. Typical denominations within this group include the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (USA) and the Spiritualists National Union (UK).
Judeo-Christian Spiritualism
Judeo-Christian Spiritualist churches also trace their lineage from the Fox Sisters, but they identify as Christian or, more broadly, as Judeo-Christian, and generally hold the belief that Spiritualism is not only compatible with, but also intimately intermingled with historical Jewish and Christian experiences and with Judeo-Christian faith. Churches within this group tend to use the term "Spiritual" rather than "Spiritualist" when naming their organizations, and the church names themselves are often reminiscent of those found in other Christian denominations, such as Calvary Spiritual Church, Saint Anthony Spiritual Church, or Mount Zion Spiritual Church. Likewise, their buildings may contain typical Judeo-Christian devotional imagery such as crosses, lambs, lions, and crowns. Within these denominations, there are several forms of Judeo-Christian liturgical style, including elements of Catholicism or Protestantism, or a mixture of both. Some also include elements from other faiths as well. Some hold services in honour of specific non-Christian spirits and spirit guides, such as Black Hawk, who was, in life, a Native American warrior of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Typical denominations within this group include the Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ (USA) and the Universal Hagar's Spiritual Churches (USA). There are many independent and non-denominational churches within this group as well. In the United States, such Judeo-Christian Spiritualist churches, especially those that are historically African American, are referred to collectively as part of the Spiritual Church Movement.
Eclectic Spiritualism
Eclectic Spiritualist churches derive from the 19th century Spiritualism of the Fox Sisters, and they encourage the practice of mediumship. Theologically, they may display beliefs similar to any or all of the churches outlined above, but what sets them apart is that within these eclectic churches, there are usually formal liturgical and iconographic elements derived from a broad variety of world-wide religious and cultural traditions, including New Thought, Theosophical, Hermetic, New Age, Catholic Christian, Protestant Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and/or Neo-Pagan religions. In addition, they may refer to the deities of various pantheons as spirit teachers or spirit guides.
These churches often hold mediumship training courses, but their programs also may include instruction in psychic reading, scrying, and crystal ball gazing, and their pastors may lead members in prayers, contact with ancestor spirits, candle work at the altar, and even casting spells of beneficial magic. They may venerate, contact, or hold services in honour of specific non-Christian spirits and spirit guides, such as the Native American war-leader Black Hawk.
Eclectic Spiritualist churches tend to have names that evoke general spiritual ideals, such as Living Light Spiritualist Church or Peaceful Kingdom Spiritualist Church, and their buildings may contain typical New Age devotional imagery such as rainbows, angels, and sun-rays. A typical denomination within this group is the Missionary Independent Spiritual Churches.
Espiritismo or Mexican Spiritualism
Espiritismo, or Mexican Spiritualism was founded in 1866 by Roque Rojas Esparaza, a man of mixed race whose mother was an Otomi Native American from Hidalgo Province, and whose father was of mixed Spanish Sephardic Jewish and Spanish Catholic Christian descent. As Father Elias, he proclaimed himself "the Strong Rock of Israel" and founded the spiritualist Mexican Patriarchal Church of Elijah (IMPE) denomination. Rojas condemned the doctrine of reincarnation and denounced Espiritismo Kardecista (see below) for promoting it. After his death, IMPE divided, with Father Elias' widow leading the Israelite Regenerated Church and other women forming the Marianist Trinitarian Spiritualists.
The meeting places of Mexican Spiritualists are referred to as Spiritualist temples. Ornamentation within the temples is confined to a seven-stepped pyramid, the image of an eye in a triangle, and fresh flowers. Espiritistas follow a unique order of liturgical services in which "irradiations" (messages from Spirit) are delivered to the congregation 13 times per month, namely, every Sunday and every Thursday, plus the 1st, 7th, 11th, 13th, and 21st days of the month. Development classes in mediumship and healing are conducted regularly. In addition, healing services are held two days each week, at which folk-magical and folk-medicinal herbal preparations are prescribed to parishioners by white-robed temple leaders, many of whom are female. Members mostly belong to Native American tribes in northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
Espiritismo Kardecista, Kardecist Spiritism
The common basis of understanding among the Kardecist denominations is that they are founded upon the five books about Spiritualism and mediumship written by the 19th century French author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who published his works under the pseudonym Allan Kardec.
Rivail had been a teacher of mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and other sciences, whose other interests included animal magnetism, somnambulism, trance possession, phrenology, and clairvoyance. The American phenomenon of Spiritualist table rapping attracted him and he established contact with helpful spirits who dictated manuscripts to him for publication. The major Kardecian Spiritist doctrinal difference from the above Spiritualist groups is a solid belief in reincarnation of the soul.
Kardecist Spiritism took hold in France and spread throughout Europe; at the present time, Kardecist denominations of Spiritualism are found widely throughout the Caribbean and in areas of the United States where Caribbean immigrants have settled. A form of Espiritismo Kardecista that has been influenced by Cuban Santeria is popularly known Santerismo.
Members of Kardecist organizations or "Spiritist Societies" do not always refer to their meeting places as "churches" or "temples," preferring to identify them as "Spiritist Centers."
Espiritismo Cruzado or Afro-Cuban Spiritualism
Espiritismo Cruzado or Afro-Cuban Spiritualism is a form of Spiriuatism that developed in Cuba among the descendents of enslaved Africans who had at least nominally converted to Christianity. The name Espiritismo Cruzado means "Spiritualism of the Cross," and as such it carries within it iconographic elements referring to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as well as African and African Diasporic religious practices such as Palo Monte, African and African-Diasporic Ancestral Traditions, and traditional African-American hoodoo folk magic, all of which which emphasize working at the crossroads or quincunx.
See Also
- Spirit Work
- Mediumship
- Altar Work and Prayers
- Spirits and Spirit Guides
- Angels and Archangels
- African and African-Diasporic Ancestral Traditions
- Ancestors
- Black Hawk
- Bwete
- The Dead and the Graveyard
- AIRR Committee of MISC
- List of Spiritualist Organizations
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