Cristina Latini:  

“There is a lot of work ahead of us, but we are always moving forward” 

Cristina is a very dedicated spiritist worker in Norway, who leads a group in this country. She says Spiritism is the route, the guide,
the promised Consoler, the fundamental revelation
that opens  us to a new world
 

O Consolador: Where are you living nowadays?
 

I live in Oslo, Norway.

O Consolador: What brought you to so far away from Brazil? 

I moved to Oslo in 1982 with my husband Cláudio Latini. We came here for work reasons in which the project was to stay for one year, but we have been 26 years so far in this country.

O Consolador: What is your school education degree? 

I have a BA in Management done from Cândido Mendes and I have done many other courses in Norway about marketing and project management.  

O Consolador: What roles have you had within the Spiritist Movement?  

Between 1999 and 2002 I was in Brazil and had the pleasure to help coordinate the Spiritist Education for Youth of Remanso Fraterno, which is a social project of SEF (Sociedade Espírita Fraternidade – Fraternity Spiritist Society). I founded the Spiritist Study Group Allan Kardec (GEEAK - Gruppen for spiritiske studier Allan Kardec) in 1993 and have been working as the President since then.

O Consolador: What is your professional activity? 

I work as a consultant at Fredskorpset, which works by side of the Norwegian Ministry of External Affairs.  

O Consolador:  When did you first get to know Spiritism? 

I was 23 years old, in Niterói, Brazil.  

O Consolador: Was there any important fact or event that facilitated this contact? 

Yes, I had some issues with my mediumship in the past. I got to know Spiritism through a painful moment of my life.

O Consolador: What was your family’s reaction?  

In the beginning, they were very scared as I struggling to control my mediumship. They took me to doctors who said I suffered from schizophrenia. Later one of our neighbors became aware of the situation and asked my mother to take me to a spiritist centre. My mother is a Practicing Catholic but always said “each of us chooses their way to reach God. He is only one”. 

O Consolador: Spiritism, as you know, has three aspects: Science, Philosophy and Religion. Which one do you feel attracted to? 

The Spiritist Doctrine is fascinating because of all these aspects. I have no specific preference. 

O Consolador: Which Spiritist Authors do you like?   

First of all writers will always be the Codifier of Spiritistim: Allan Kardec. Then, we have Leon Denis, Gabriel Delanne, Herculano Pires, and Jorge Andréa. I also enjoy reading André Luiz, Joanna de Ângelis, and Amélia Rodrigues.  

O Consolador: Which spiritist books do you consider essential to those who are starting to learn about Spiritism?  

I started by reading the “Spiritist’ Book”, but the book “What is Spiritism” is equally important. In Norway, some people started by reading the Genesis. After reading basic books of Allan Kardec's Codification, André Luiz should follow.  

O Consolador: If you were to spend a few years somewhere remote, with no access to spiritist activities, which books would you take with you?    

I would take all 300 books that belong to GEEAK’s library (Gruppen for spiritiske studier Allan Kardec). I would for sure miss to read many others!  

O Consolador: There are very few doctrine deviations within our movement. One of these divergences refers to the so called “Lay Spiritism”. Do you believe Spiritism is a religion? 

Yes, I do. Spiritism is not a religion full of dogma principles like other traditional religions, but modern and liberating! It’s compromised to love God in “spirit and truth”. It has nothing to do with the traditional ones, since it reconnects us to God by its simplicity, logic and scope.  

O Consolador: Another topic discussed in Spiritism is the so called “standardized healing”, proposed by Edgard Armond. We know the most common used is by imposing hands as José Herculano Pires recommended. What is your opinion and which type is more common in Norway? 

In Norway we follow the process of imposing hands for healing, and put love and fraternity within this transmission of bioenergy.

O Consolador: How is the issue of abortion faced in Norway and what is your opinion about it?

Over here, abortion is legal and free since the seventies. According the ethics and to the spiritist doctrine, this act should only be applied in the extreme case of to save the pregnant woman’s life. I fear those who want to legalize the abortion of anencephaly children. I believe the Brazilian Spiritist Movement, through FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation), AME-Br (Brazilian Medical Spiritist Association) and other federal organizations are doing a great work defending life. I believe that the spiritist citizen should also join these groups with enthusiasm, using its civil rights.  

O Consolador:  Euthanasia is not supported by the Spiritist Doctrine. Kardec and many others like Joanna de Ângelis have given us their opinion on this issue. Therefore, the idea of orthothanasia came up lately, which has been defended by some spiritist’s doctors. What is your opinion about it?   

I would rather not comment on it. I believe each human being born in Earth should return to the spiritual world at its own time and have the right to do it in peace and with dignity. Nowadays, due to the technological advances, we are faced with new challenges from an ethical and moral point of view. The Spiritist Doctrine, therefore, is always up-to-date and can contribute to the society and give us the resources we need to solve these questions.  

O Consolador: Do you keep in contact with the Brazilian Spiritist Movement? Do you consider it active, or is it lacking a better disclosure of the doctrine? 

We are in touch through CEI, our trips to Brazil and the spiritist media. We try to be up-to-date as much as we can. The spiritist movement in Brazil is active; no doubt about that. We can see that the Brazilian Spiritist Federation is expanding, spiritist books can be found at bookshops and airports, spiritist plays, spiritist movies coming up such as “Bezerra de Menezes”. On TV, the movement of peace started by Divaldo Franco is getting bigger; AME and other organizations are working to disclosure the doctrine and its ideas. I think we have been making the most of all opportunities the media offers. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but we are always moving forward. 

O Consolador: How is the Spiritist Movement in Norway? 

The spiritist movement is made of Brazilians, mainly. The doctrine has been disclosed as much as we can through the visit of Brazilian speakers, translations and book sales, distribution of leaflets printed by CEI, internet website, introduction courses to Spiritism, participation on exhibitions, and for two years now we have two rooms rented in the centre of the city. Even though we have seen an increase in the number of people interested in the subject, materialism, prejudice ad rejection to the Gospel is seen. We also have the language barrier, which is fundamental for communication and disclosure of the Doctrine.

O Consolador: When and how did the spiritist movement start in Norway? 

The spiritist movement started by the end of 1800 and declined as from 1926 with the death of our great pioneer Bernt Torstenson. The work this great worker left counts with a monthly magazine which has been published within 38 years and series of translated books, such as “The Spiritist’s Book” in 1893. We have nowadays one registered spiritist centre; o GEEAK (Gruppen for spiritiske studier Allan Kardec), and another one that recently opened in Trondheim, north of the country. 

O Consolador: What is people’s acceptance to Spiritism? 

In the seventies, Norway went through a process of rejecting the official religion and the church as they were part of the State – they are Lutherans. Many intellectuals and important people at the time declared themselves as atheists and disconnected completely from the church. At that time, a period of dismissing the spiritual reality was about to start.  

Ten years ago, we have seen an increase for oriental religions, which are also considered alternatives. The TV was showing American programs where mediumship was talked about openly and freely. We have recently given an interview to the State radio which shows the public interest has changed a lot. The spiritist doctrine, hence, has an audience to reach at this moment in time.

O Consolador: How do you see the level of criminality and violence that seems to increase in Brazil and around the world? How can we, spiritists, help to change this situation?

This is not happening just in Brazil. Norway is considered to be one of the richest countries in the world and one of the best places to live. Therefore, it also suffers from violence and criminality. We can see the problem is happening everywhere. Our cooperation is to take to all youth the message of immortality, passing through the challenges of consumption, immediatism and emptiness. We can notice a lot of the times the family, even spiritist family, neglects and avoid teaching their children the message of Spiritism.

O Consolador: The preparation for the advent of a world of regeneration in our planet already gave its first steps, as we are aware of. How long will it take for Earth to stop being a world of tests and atonements, and become a world of regeneration where, according to Saint Augustine, the word love will be written everywhere and social relations will be perfectly fair?  

We should not specify a date. We know that the acceleration or delay will depend upon us only. We want a regenerated planet but the world we live is our intimate; our internal world. That’s where the regeneration work starts – the planet within us! It’s absolutely wonderful to think that God gave us this enormous freedom to manage this vast and beautiful world! 

O Consolador: Due to all problems our society is facing just now, what should be the maximum priority of those who are leading the spiritist movement in the world? 

Get to know Spiritism! 

O Consolador: Is there any question we haven’t made that you would have liked to answer? If so, what question would it be? 

No, there isn’t any. I just would like to thank for the opportunity and wish you all a lot of peace!