We begin in this issue the study of the Revue Spirite of 1858, a monthly newspaper focused on the divulgation of Spiritism, founded and directed by Allan Kardec. This study is based on the translation into the Portuguese language made by Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL. The answers to the questions are at the end of the text for reading.
Questions for discussion
A. How many Spiritist newspapers were there in Europe when the magazine Revue Spirite was published?
B. How did the word psychography, which designates Spiritist communication through writing, appear in Kardec's work?
C. How did Kardec call the visions that occurred during sleep and during waking?
D. What are the names of the first mediums who contributed to the elaboration of The Book of Spirits?
Text for reading
1. The Revue Spirite constitutes the Records of Spiritism and it was through this magazine that all new principles were elaborated and were subject to study. (Note: The Revue Spirite was a monthly magazine, published by Allan Kardec in January 1858, and edited by him until his death on March 31, 1869).
2. The power shown in spiritual manifestations is in Nature, as is in magnetism. (Page 2)
3. In 1858 there were 17 newspapers in the United States focused on Spiritism, while in Europe there was only one: that of Geneva. (Page 2)
4. Everything proves that the Spiritist phenomena have occurred since the earliest ages. Therefore, what we witness today is not a modern discovery: it is the understanding of Antiquity, freed from mysticism. (Page 3)
5. Communications with the invisible world are found in biblical books. The existence of Spirits and their intervention in the corporeal world is attested in St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus and in many other Fathers of the Church. (Pages 3 and 4)
6. In their teachings the Higher Spirits always have the purpose of awakening in men the love of good through the practice of the Gospel. (Page 5)
7. The Spirits prove their presence in various ways. (Page 6)
8. Spiritist communications can be frivolous, coarse, serious or instructive. (Page 7)
9. Intelligent communications between Spirits and men can be given by signs, through writing and by the word. (Page 8)
10. A correspondent suggested that the Spiritist manifestations by means of blows, which Kardec called “Spiritist Sematology”, be instead designated by the term “Typology”. The name “Psychography”, applicable to communication through writing, was also suggested by another correspondent. (Pages 8 and 9)
11. Written communications without the direct intervention of the medium were called “Spiritography” by Kardec. (Page 9)
12. Verbal communications were called “Mediatic Spiritology” and “Direct Spiritology”. The word “psychophony” came later. (Page 10)
13. It is important to be aware of the belief in the unlimited knowledge of the Spirits. These Spirits are just like men; it is not enough to question the first one that appears: we must know who we are addressing. (Page 12)
14. The interference of the incorporeal beings in the things of life is part of the popular beliefs of all time. (Page 15)
15. Julia, who died after a painful illness, at the age of 14, communicates with her mother and gives her an unquestionable proof of her presence. (Page 16)
16. The consciousness of the passage of time among the Spirits is different: ten years for us means ten minutes for them. (Page 19)
17. Kardec describes and analyzes the failure of the Boston experiment, in which Dr. Gardner, even counting on the young Miss Fox, failed to prove the interference of the Spirits. (Pages 21 and 22)
18. Dreams are nothing more than a natural and incomplete somnambulistic state: the visions that occur in this state are, therefore, somnambulistic visions. The visions when awake are called double sight visions. Those that occur in ecstasy are called ecstatic visions. (Pages 24 and 25)
19. Ermance Dufaux was 14 when he wrote the story of Joan of Arc, dictated by her. Ermance stopped being a psychographic medium to become a talking medium: another person recorded her words. (Page 30)
20. Kardec presents "The Book of Spirits" and the repercussion that this work had in France. (Pages 31 and 32)
21. The criticism of the Book of Spirits made by G. du Chalard, in the Paris Courier, on 06-11-1857 deserves to be remembered. (Pages 31 and 32)
22. Kardec tells us how the Book of Spirits was written and says that the first mediums, who contributed for this work, were Miss B... and Miss Japhet. (Editorial note. Misses B... are Julie and Caroline Baudin.) (Page 34)
23. Spirits can be classified within three major categories or orders: Imperfect Spirits, Good Spirits and Pure Spirits. (Pages 38-43)
24. The third order of Spirits show a predominance of the matter over the Spirit; tendency to evil; ignorance, pride and all bad passions that they cause; these are their general features. (Page 39)
25. The second order of Spirits show a predominance of the Spirit over matter and the desire to be good; these are their general features. (Page 41)
26. The first order is formed by Pure Spirits, in which there is no influence of matter. (Page 43)
27. According to their state, the Spirits may be incarnate or errant. Since the incarnation is a transitory state, erraticity is really the Spirits’ normal state. (Page 44)
28. Kardec tells us and also analyzes the case of Mademoiselle Clairon and the ghost, which occurred in 1743, in which the great actress and singer describes the persecutions she suffered from a disembodied fan. (Pages 44 to 46)
29. The phenomena lasted two and a half years, just as the boy's Spirit had predicted. (Page 47)
30. Kardec describes the phenomenon of suspending a table, which he saw repeatedly in several occasions at Mr. B's house, on Lamartine Street. (Page 48)
31. Kardec makes a comparison between the phenomena of the talking tables and the oracles of ancient times, and those of the sacred forest of Mount Taurus in Epirus, to conclude that ancient beliefs were based on the knowledge of Spiritist manifestations. (Page 54)
32. Saint Luigi, on a page about avarice, shows the sufferings and despair that the misers of the post-mortem life will suffer. (Pages 55 and 56)
33. Miss Clary D, who died at the age of 13, reveals interesting facts about her present state and past lives. (Pages 56 and 57)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. How many Spiritist newspapers were there in Europe when the magazine Revue Spirite was published?
In 1858 there was only one newspaper focused on Spiritism in all Europe: that of Geneva. However, in the United States there were at the time 17 Spiritist newspapers. (Revue Spirite, page 2).
B. How did the word psychography, which designates Spiritist communication through writing, appear in Kardec's work?
The word psychography, referring to written communication by the Spirits, was suggested to the Encoder by a correspondent, and the same happened with the word tiptology, also suggested by a confrere, to designate Spiritist manifestations through blows, which Kardec called Spiritist semathology. (Revue Spirite, pages 8 and 9.)
C. How did Kardec call the visions that occurred during sleep and during waking?
After explaining that dreams are only a natural and incomplete somnambulistic state, the Encoder states that the visions that occur in this state are somnambulistic visions, while the visions that happen when awake are double sight visions, and those in ecstasy are called ecstatic visions. (Revue Spirite, pages 24 and 25).
D. What are the names of the first mediums who contributed to the elaboration of The Book of Spirits?
Kardec says that the first mediums that contributed for this work were Misses B... and Miss Japhet. Misses B were, as known later, the Baudin sisters, Julie and Caroline. (Revue Spirite, page 34.)
