Twelve signs form the zodiacal cycle, a milliner tradition that has gained ground in Western culture and that today permeates any discussion about future trends and self-knowledge, especially through the practice of constructing astral maps, occupying spaces on television and networks, with great popularity.

However, Astrology has been the subject of a recent controversial issue. Considering that, it observes the sky, and because it had its origins in Antiquity, it was said that the sky, as it was at the time, is different from what it is today. In fact, after many discussions, astronomers concluded that the zodiacal cycle would be composed of 13 signs, with the emergence of a new one, which they called Serpentarium (Ophiucus).

Obviously, this issue of Astronomy, when it met with Astrology, was the object of great controversy, which is not the focus of our discussion. It interests us in a metaphorical way. An idea that just as the sky changes, in the dynamics of the Universe, in the eyes of the human observer, the world also changes and things that were thought of in the past can now be the object of adjustments and updates.

Here we come to the object of analysis of this article. The twelve moral laws brought in the third part of The Book of Spirits, a structure brought by Kardec to deal with matters relevant to the life of the spirit, of a world of 1857, and that today, after more than 160 years, still guides our discussions, due to its prominence in the basic work of the Spiritist Doctrine. ⁽¹⁾

Do these twelve laws, as they are in The Book of Spirits, meet the reality of modern society? Is there any adjustment, addition? Would a new “little box” be necessary, representing a new law to contemplate what was not addressed, inserting a serpentarium in the part of the Moral Laws? This is not about misrepresenting or diminishing our basic work, but rather a discussion of how to conduct our effort to interpret these truths in light of the current world, seeing their relevance, but also gaps that we need to fill, through reflection, anchored on this solid basis.

In divine or natural law, boundaries are drawn between good and evil, the codification being a pioneer in escaping from the Manichaeism of total evil, in a tendency that today becomes a consensus in the most elaborate philosophical debates and in cinematographic pieces. Life in the 21st century becomes more complex, and this discussion of fulfilling the divine law needs to be deepened, so that we understand well what it means to be on the path of good.

Dealing with dry themes, the law of worship dwells on our ways of dealing with spirituality, with our perception of divinity, very pertinent in a world of whitewashed tombs and the persistence of contemplative solutions to real problems. The prevalence of these models, after so much time, is already a reason for deep reflection and debate.

In a society of hyper-connection and soulless exploitation of the workforce, the knowledge brought by the Labor Law is still relevant. However, a deeper doctrinal discussion is still needed to deal with the new forms of exploitation of man-by-man in relations with slavery-like tones, and which still persist, allied to the greed that destroys homes and health due to the accumulation of the vile metal.

Overpopulation, sexuality and human relations figure together in the law of reproduction. However, these issues transcend the vision of the perpetuation of the species, and there is much to be discussed in these themes, in the light of the assumptions of the Spiritist Doctrine, as a source of clarification on such current issues and that still permeate scientists' benches and common sense conversations.

In the conservation law, the spirits bring up the very current theme of “how much is a life worth?”, ours and that of our neighbor, which dialogues a lot with a consumer society, in which life is lost in exchange for things, many of them superfluous, while for many the essential is missing. The discussion of the need has never been so pressing and the Spiritist Doctrine has a lot to contribute to this discussion.

Society has been taken over by a grammar of truculence, in which advances in human rights obtained in the post-war period lose strength.  It needs what is contained in the law of destruction of The Book of Spirits, in a broad vision of the defense of life, of a culture of non-violence and understanding that war is a phenomenon to be banned. Old discussions of a problem that is still so current.

The law of society comes to fill the void of a time of nihilism, of individuality, of gaps between citizens, forgetting the interdependence between all of us. Social life, in different spaces, is a need brought by the Spiritist Doctrine and which still figures as an unlearned lesson, insulated in our walls and condominiums, frightened by the other and by violence, in a technological society that still suffers from secular problems.

When we read in the Spiritist pages about the inevitable march of progress, we have the illusion that this will happen without our help, feeding the idea of being dragged towards regeneration and not that this is a construction. Perhaps this rescue of the Law of progress is missing, that it will derive from us, and not an external, messianic imposition. This reflection would save us from many mistaken statements that we see around, in Spiritist discussions.

A world that is still so unequal, in multiple aspects, and that oscillates between biased discourses of meritocracy allied to contempt for social scourges. However, it is blind to pockets of poverty and everything that comes from the lack of necessities and still struggles in the absence of real confrontation the issue of inequality, which has only increased since the times of Kardec, even though we are proud of the advances achieved. By revising this law, could it rescue us from these crossroads?

Perhaps freedom is the most polysemic word of this 21^st century, fitting both its traditional meanings and its antitheses. After more than 160 years, slavery resists and reinvents itself, in different ways, and the freezing fatalism that proposes to face the fear of uncertainty, still figures in speeches far from the necessary rationality, also making the Law of Freedom a foundation for many current discussions.

The hardness of justice finds the candor of love in the eleventh law, that of justice, love and charity, mediating human relationships with the Christian feeling par excellence: love. Truths still so present and little learned, in a life that walks with a lot of love on the lips and little in the heart. A love that sees the other, their limits, combined with the idea of justice, thus being a sustainable feeling.

Finally, Kardec deals with “Moral perfection”, self-knowledge, virtues and the good man. In a world in which hypocrisy, as grammar, resurfaces in a visceral way, the Spiritist knowledge contained in this moral law presents itself as an antidote to pharisaic moralism, in the construction of a real man of good, alive, and necessary for the world that looms.

As can be seen, the twelve laws of the third part still bring the foundation of relevant discussions, of problems that still plague the man of the 21^st century, who sees the stars, but does not perceive his neighbor. Do we need a serpentarium, a thirteenth moral law to build the Kingdom of God so desired? Maybe not.... These twelve topics brought by the Spirits of codification already present themselves as a map to guide us in this nebulous world.

There is still much to discuss, adapt and combine the Moral Laws of 1857 with the world of the 21^st century. The brief analyzes indicated that in some of these very little progress was made, and in some, we had the so-called chicken flight, short and disappointing. The Spiritist needs to rediscover these laws, in a broad, concatenated sense, for the application of these discussions in the directions to be adopted in these conflicting times. Answers that are there, just waiting for our interpretations so that they can be instruments of transformation of the world.

⁽¹⁾ As provided in question 648 of The Book of Spirits, the natural law is divided into ten parts. However, as the tenth part includes three themes (justice, love and charity), the writer considered in this article, for our reflection, the existence of twelve laws. (Editor's Note)