The Revue Spirite of 1863

Part 2

We continue in this issue the study of the Revue Spirite corresponding to the year of 1863. The condensed text of the mentioned volume will hereby be presented in sixteen parts, based on the translation of Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL.

Issues for discussion 

A. Have the Spiritual Protectors always encouraged the practice of material charity?

B. Is it dangerous to practice mediumship without being properly prepared to do so and without a serious purpose?

C. What can lead a person to turmoil?

Text for reading

12. While traveling, Mr. Delanne (father of the noted writer Gabriel Delanne, then a child) tells us that he evoked his wife Lille, who had stayed in Paris. The dialogue maintained by Delanne and the soul of his wife is described in the Revue, plus the information that the facts narrated in the conversation were then duly confirmed. (Pages 20 to 23)

13. The Revue refers to a terrible tragedy in Dalton (USA) in which a young black man was summarily sentenced and taken to the gallows. The newspapers say that while the boy's body struggled with the convulsions of death, he was victim of insults and violence from the spectators, who shot him several times, thus increasing the torture of his death. Full of anger, the crowd dragged his body through the streets of Dalton, and after going through the entire village, it moved towards the front of a church of black people where the corpse was mutilated and burned in a huge bonfire. A message received at the Spiritist Society of Paris commented on the fact and the consequences of so much savagery. (Pages 23 to 25)

14. Sanson (Spirit), remembering the approaching winter, invites Spiritists to use their free moments to visit and help those who suffer from deprivations and physical or moral needs. (Pages 25 and 26)

15. The Law of Progress is treated by a protective Spirit, who says that at certain times – i.e., at provided and designated times - a man appears who opens a new path for Humanity. "Sometimes," says the communicant, "this man is the last among the humble, among the small ones; yet he enters the High Spheres of the Unknown". (Pages 26 and 27)

16. In the Bibliography section Revue informs the launching of the book "The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds", in which Camille Flammarion, of the Imperial Observatory of Paris and member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, presents his studies on the habitability of the celestial lands discussed in the point of view of Astronomy and Philosophy. (Pages 28 to 31)

17. The Revue informs that it has opened a list in favor of the workers of Rouen, who are going through great suffering – so says the note – and the readers cannot remain indifferent. Thus, it invites the reader to help and it also says that several groups and societies have already sent what they collected. (Page 32)

18. A new article – the third one - on the possessed of Morzine opens the February edition and in it Kardec refers to several cases of obsession and the means used in the treatment carried out, always emphasizing the inconvenience of giving ourselves up to the evocations without having enough knowledge and with no serious purpose. (Pages 33 to 35)

19. The Revue copied a case of a wife of a sailor living in Boulogne-sur-Mer, who had been sadly subjugated during the last fifteen years. Almost every night, awakened around midnight, the woman was thrown off the bed, sometimes half-naked, and forced to leave the house and run through the countryside. After wandering for two or three hours, only then she stopped and became aware of what she was doing, and she could not even pray, because when she tried to do so, her ideas were confused and mixed with bizarre and even dirty things. (Page 35)

20. Kardec recognizes that in certain cases of disturbance the cause may be purely material, but there are others in which the interference of an occult intelligence is evident, since, fighting this intelligence, the evil stops, and if only the material cause is fought, then nothing is achieved. (Page 36)

21. The Encoder says that some attribute this to demons; Spiritism attributes it to Spirits, sometimes as evil as the supposed demons; however, in the future they may improve as the moral sense develops in them, and in their successive corporeal existences. (Page 37) (Continues on next issue.)

Answers to the questions

A. Have the Spiritual Protectors always encouraged the practice of material charity?

Yes. And the proof is the message of the Spirit of Sanson, published in the Revue, in which, recalling the approach of winter, he invites the Spiritists to visit and help those who suffer from privations and needs of physical or moral order. (Revue Spirite of 1863, pages 25 and 26.)

B. Is it dangerous to practice mediumship without being properly prepared to do so and without a serious purpose?

Yes, certainly. Kardec now and then recalls, in the Revue, the inconvenience of evoking not having enough knowledge about the matter and with no serious purpose. (Ibid, pages 33 to 35)

C. What can lead a person to turmoil?

In certain cases of turmoil, says Kardec, the cause may be only material, but there are others in which the intervention of a hidden intelligence is evident. When fighting this intelligence, evil ceases, and when attacking only the supposed material cause nothing is achieved. The Encoder says that some attribute this action to the demons. Spiritism attributes it to the Spirits, sometimes as evil as the supposed demons. However, they will improve as the moral sense develops in them, in the succession of corporeal existences. (Ibid, pages 36 and 37)

Translation:

Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br