During the years 1862 and 1863, Allan Kardec devoted significant attention to the so-called “Morzine’s possessions”, publishing several articles about this true “obsessive epidemic” in his Revista Espírita (RE) (Spiritist Magazine) (SM). This serious process of obsession affected the tiny French town of Haute-Savoie called Morzine (at the time, with approximately 2,500 inhabitants, according to information provided by the Encoder of Spiritism), drawing the attention of the French authorities.

Two articles were published, in 1862; in the April and December editions of SM, (subsequent articles on “the possessed of Morzine” would appear in issues of 1863). Such articles were important for the deepening of the study of obsession, since, most likely, the phenomenology that occurred in Morzine was associated with a certain change in Allan Kardec's position. In fact, from then on, the Encoder began to use the expression “possession” for the most serious cases and with greater physical consequences of the so-called “subjugation”. Until the publication of The Book of Mediums, in 1861, the Encoder did not accept this. Furthermore, the Morzine episode also highlights the so-called “collective obsession”, that is, an obsession generated by many Spirits, which, in addition, affected a large group of people in a given region, characterizing a kind of “contagious” obsessive process and place”. These articles were gathered to form part of the relevant collection of cases of obsession of the Spiritist Magazine, prepared by the Belgian Spiritist Union, in 1950. It received the name of A Obsessão (The Obsession).

This complex relationship between multiple obsessors, multiple obsessed people and a single affected region is analyzed in detail by Allan Kardec, who has occasion to evaluate this type of “geographic problem of obsession” or, if we prefer, a possible local susceptibility of obsession, even if temporary, due to the occurrence of an “obsessive epidemic” in that region.

Morzine's case provided an opportunity for Allan Kardec to carry out a complete doctrinal review of the theme of "obsession", which beautifully illustrates the solidity of the Spiritist Doctrine and its ability to explain a series of spiritual processes with poorly explained physical consequences, or even completely unexplained, by other proposals of thought. Kardec makes an extensive evaluation of the perispirit, of the spiritual world, mediumship and of obsession. This should not go unknown to all Spiritism students.  

The Spirit Erasto (through the medium Mr. D'Ambel), in turn, makes an interesting comment. Erastus correlated the phenomena of possession with those of Jesus' time, suggesting that both the appearance of the Master from Nazareth and the advent of Spiritism accompanied the occurrence of a severe obsessional epidemic. Furthermore, Erastus emphasizes that possession would bring positive aspects, as it would draw everyone's attention to the spiritual reality of human beings as well as to the most efficient methods (which would be those of a moral and/or magnetic-spiritual nature) for their treatment. Now, just as years before the phenomenon of turning and talking tables attracted the attention of serious researchers, such as Professor Rivail himself, the growth of Spiritism could be accentuated by studies of processes like the one that occurred in Morzine.

Kardec concluded his first article on the subject, making very objective and enlightening comments. Let us see:

"...the means taught by Spiritism were enough to make the obsession cease..."

- "... It is demonstrated by experience that perverse spirits not only act on thought, but also on the body, with which they identify and which they use as if it were their own..."

- “...it's quite a kind of madness, since this name can be given to any abnormal state, in which the Spirit does not act freely. From this point of view, drunkenness is a true accidental madness...”

- “...It is therefore necessary to distinguish 'pathological madness' from 'obsessional madness'.

Kardec also emphasizes the role of Spiritism in mental illness, but stresses the historical difficulty of this action, since many “... are always willing to send to the asylum anyone who has the weakness of believing that we have a soul and that it represents a role in vital functions, survives the body and can act on the living”.

- “...In the not too distant future, medicine will finally leave the materialistic routine...”

In fact, despite many advances, this process of "spiritualization of medicine" is still being processed and the problems caused by materialistic values continue to harm various areas of society, as Allan Kardec already claimed to happen in his time.

In the article entitled “Study on the possessed of Morzine” (Causes of obsession and means of combat), Allan Kardec presents several subjects related to magnetism, passes, obsession, self-obsession and disobsession, among other topics. Kardec points out, right at the beginning of the article, that “to support our opinion, we must enter into preliminary explanations”. In fact, the scope of this text is impressive. The Master of Lyon almost summarized the Spiritist Doctrine as a whole in a single article. In this second topic of this article, we tried to segment a good part of Kardecian text and present it as answers to specific questions, associating brief explanations with such questions, when we consider that such addendums would be interesting.

Let us see the Kardecian elucidations to questions that we elaborated in order to highlight the depth and scope of the content elaborated by our Encoder.

Does disincarnating, by itself, cause the Spirit to evolve? How is the relationship between the incarnated Spirits and the disembodied Spirits of the Earth, from an evolutionary point of view?

“After death, the soul of a good man will be a good Spirit; in the same way, incarnating a good Spirit, he will be a good man. For the same reason, when dying, a wicked man will give a wicked spirit to the invisible world, and an evil spirit, if incarnated, cannot give a virtuous man. Therefore, as long as the Spirit has not purified itself or experienced the desire to improve itself. Because, once he enters the path of progress, little by little he rids himself of his bad instincts: he gradually rises in the hierarchy of Spirits, until he reaches perfection, accessible to all, since God could not have created beings eternally devoted to evil and to unhappiness. Thus, the visible and invisible worlds interpenetrate and alternate incessantly; if we can say so, they feed each other; or, better said, these two worlds actually constitute one, in two different states. This consideration is very important to better understand the existing solidarity between the two.” (emphasis mine)

How can we characterize Earth in terms of spiritual evolution?

“Since the Earth is an inferior world, that is, little advanced, it follows that the immense majority of the Spirits that inhabit it, both in the wandering state and when incarnated, must be composed of imperfect Spirits, who do more harm than good. Hence, the predominance of evil on Earth is, at the same time, a world of atonement. Men are then unhappy due to the dimension of evil. If all men were good, everyone would be happy. It is a state not yet reached by our globe: and it is to such a state that God wants to lead it. All the tribulations experienced here by good men, whether from men or from spirits, are consequences of this state of inferiority. We can say that the Earth is the Botany-Bay* of the worlds: there are primitive savagery and civilization, criminality and atonement.

*Botany-Bay, English bay on the coast of New South Wales, near Sidney (Australia), discovered by Cook (1770). It was there that the English made their first attempts at penal colonization”. (emphasis mine)

How can we understand the spiritual world associated with planet Earth?

“...it is necessary to imagine the invisible world as forming an innumerable population, compact, as it were, enveloping the Earth and looming large in space. It is a kind of moral atmosphere, of which the incarnated spirits occupy the lower part, where they stir as in a vase. Now, just as the air of the lower parts is heavy and unhealthy, this moral air is also unhealthy, because the miasmas of impure spirits corrupt it. To resist this, moral temperaments endowed with great vigor are needed” (emphasis added).

Considering the much-vaunted “planetary transition”, which would currently be in its infancy on Earth, it is very interesting to note that Kardec already signaled the preparation of this phase, with a very didactic, simple and objective explanation.

How will Earth pass from classification as a world of trials and atonement to a world of regeneration?

“... [The inferior worlds] follow the law of progress and, reaching the precise age, God heals them, expelling the imperfect spirits, which no longer reincarnate and are replaced by more advanced ones. These will make happiness, justice and peace reign. It is a revolution of this kind that is currently being prepared” (my emphasis).

(This article continues in the next issue.)

Bibliographic references:

Kardec, A. The Obsession – Origin, symptoms and cures [Translation by Wallace Leal V. Rodrigues]. Publishing House “O Clarim”. Sixth edition. 2000.

Kardec, A. Spiritist Magazine (Fifth Year – 1862) [Translation by Salvador Gentile]. Spiritist Diffusion Institute (IDE). First edition. 1993.

Kardec. A. Spiritist Magazine (Sixth Year – 1863) [Translation by Salvador Gentile]. Spiritist Diffusion Institute (IDE). Second edition. 2002.