The mediumistic phenomenon
through the ages

We present in this issue the topic #97 from the Systematized Study of the Spiritist Doctrine, that is being presented weekly, according to the programme elaborated by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB), structured in 6 modules and 147 topics.

If the reader uses this program for a study group, we suggest that questions proposed be discussed freely before the reading of the text that follows. If you would like to study alone, we ask you to try to answer the questions at first and only then read the text that follows. The answer key can be found at the end of the lesson. 

Questions

1. Did the mediumistic phenomenon start with the Spiritism?

2. What does determine the attraction of spirits for the different people?

3. Which figures of the Old Testament stood out for their mediumistic abilities?

4. Is the mediumistic phenomenon strange to Christianity?

5. Mention the names of some famous mediums that history recorded.

Text

The prophetism in Israel was a transcendental striking phenomenon

1. The mediumistic phenomenon did not start with the Spiritism once we find references about it in the most remote times in the history of mankind. Some of them were considered miraculous facts; others were attributed to demonic beings.

2. What is worthy of emphasis is that in all ages of mankind we have been assisted by higher spirits who seek boosting us to the moral and intellectual progress. The ancients, of course, made these spirits special gods. Muses were nothing more that the allegorical personification of Science’s and Arts’ protectors, as the gods Lares and Penates symbolized the protectors of the families. Even today, arts, different industries, institutions, cities and countries also have their patrons, who are nothing more than higher spirits under different names.

3. Regarding to the peoples, what determines the attraction of spirits for them are the customs, the habits, the dominant character and the laws that govern them. Studying the habits of the people or any assembly of people, it is easy to deduce what kind of invisible population interfere in their way of thinking and actions.

4. Léon Denis says that the prophetism in Israel, from Moses to Jesus, was one of the most remarkable transcendental phenomena in history. The origin of the Prophetism was marked by an impressive demonstration reported by the Old Testament. Moses had chosen 70 elders, and when placed them around the tabernacle, Jehovah, one of the spiritual protectors of the Jewish people and of Moses in particular, revealed his presence in a cloud.

Several mediumistic facts occurred on the Pentecost’s day

5. As no one ignores, Moses was a seer and auditive medium, and thanks to such abilities he could see and hear Jehovah in the brier of the Horeb and on the Mount Sinai. The mediumistic phenomenas in his life, because of that, were numerous and significant. The leader of the Hebrews heard voices when he inclined in front of the propitiatory Ark of the Covenant. He received at Sinai, written on the tombstone, the tablets of law. Powerful magnetiser, fulminated a fluidic discharge against revolted Hebrews in the desert. Inspired medium, sang a wonderful song after the defeat of the Pharaoh. And presented a special kind of mediumship – the luminous transfiguration - when, coming down from the Sinai had on his forehead a halo of light.

6. Samuel, another Jewish prophet, when sleeping in the temple was often awakened by voices calling him; they spoke to him in the silence of the night and announced the things of the future. Ezra fully reconstructed the Bible that had been lost, with the aid of a spirit. The entire book of Job is full of clarifications and mediumistic inspirations and his own life, tormented by unhappy spirits, is a subject that deserves accurate studies. And beyond these, we can mention Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah and many others.

7. The history of the mediumship of Jews prophets reached its culmination with the coming of Jesus. The passage of the Master on Earth reveals, in every moment, the constant exchange with the Superior Plan, in talks with emissaries of high strain or addresses to afflicted disincarnated, in the rescue of the obsesses of the way, but also on the team of companions, to whom he presented in person, after death. And the disciples themselves would live with the mediumistic phenomenon, especially after the extraordinary events recorded on the day of Pentecost which is celebrated immediately after the Easter of resurrection.

8. Emmanuel says that on that day, and informs the book of Acts (Chapter 2, verses 1 to 13), the apostles who remained loyal to the Lord became notable mediums, when they combined their forces, the spiritual emissaries of Jesus produced, through them, physical phenomena in large quantities, as illuminated signs and direct voices, and facts of psicophony and xenoglossy in which the teachings of the Gospel were dictated in several languages, simultaneously, to the Israelis of various origins.

Mohammed wrote the Koran aided by a Spirit

9. The mediumistic phenomenon was not confined, however, to the Israeli people. In old Greece, the great Socrates, according to what his disciples reported, used to talk to an invisible friend who accompanied him constantly. Nero, in the last days of his reign, he saw himself out of his carnal body, with Agrippina and Ottawa, both murdered by his order, to foretell the fall in the abyss. In the silence of the desert, Muhammad, the founder of Islam, wrote the Qur'an (or Koran) under the dictation of a spirit, who in order to be heard, took the name and the appearance of the angel Gabriel.

10. In the Middle Ages, a period known for its obscurantism, the mediums - except those who were raised to the category of saints - were persecuted and maltreated as wizards. In their adventures, Christopher Columbus was guided by an invisible genius, and because of this, he was called a visionary, but at times of great difficulties, he used to hear an unknown voice that stimulated him to continue. 

11. The life of Joan of Arc is in the memory of us all. History reports that invisible beings inspired and directed her. Apparitions appeared before her, heavenly voices whispered in her ears. Still in the Middle Ages other important mediums were revealed. Dante, under spiritual influence, wrote "The Divine Comedy." Tasso, inspired by the Spirit of Ariosto, composed the poem Renaud. Milton writes "Paradise Lost". Shakespeare speaks of apparitions Hamlet.

12. In the eighteenth century, stands out in Europe, the psychic Emmanuel Swedenborg, who first described in details the spiritual world. In the nineteenth century, when the Spiritism would be finally encoded, remarkable mediums were reincarnated as Andrew Jackson Davis, Kate Fox, Eusapia Paladino, Slade, Amalia Domingo Soler, Stainton Moses, Florence Cook, Madame d'Esperance, Julie Baudin, Caroline and Daniel Baudin Dunglas Home, and many others, and we don’t mention here none of the Brazilian mediums, such as Chico Xavier, Zé Ariga, Yvonne A. Pereira, Peixotinho, Zilda Range and Divaldo Franco, which show us that in the genesis and in the history of Judaism, of Christianity, Islam and of Spiritism the mediumship and mediumistic phenomenon exerted and still exerts an important role.

Answer Key

1. Did the mediumistic phenomenon start with the Spiritism?
A.: No, once we find references about it in the most remote times in the history of mankind. Some of them were considered miraculous facts; others were attributed to demonic beings.  

2. What does determine the attraction of spirits for the different people?
A.: What determines the attraction of spirits for them are the customs, the habits, the dominant character and the laws that govern them. Studying the habits of the people or any assembly of people, it is easy to deduce what kind of invisible population interfere in their way of thinking and actions.