Spiritualism

The 19th-century conviction that the living can speak with the dead.

1848 CE → · US & Europe · Modern & New

Spiritualism swept the 19th-century English-speaking world with the claim that the spirits of the dead survive and can communicate through mediums. Beginning with the Fox sisters' reported rappings in 1848, it grew into organized churches and séance circles promising both comfort and proof of the afterlife. Its outlook fed later psychical research and the New Age movement.

Key figures

• The Fox sisters
• Mediums

Texts

• Mediumistic writings

Beliefs

• The dead survive and can communicate
• Continuous spiritual progress after death
• Contact through gifted mediums

Rituals

• Séances
• Mediumship and healing circles

Grew from

• Protestantism

Connections in the atlas

• Chico Xavier
• Winchester Mystery House
• A Report of the Mysterious Noises (Hydesville)
• ? What are near-death experiences?
• Modern psychological and sun-sign astrology
• Ecstatic trance and spirit possession (ritual)
• Poltergeist
• ▶ Where the dead go
• Reincarnation
• Daniel Dunglas Home
• Fox sisters' cottage, Hydesville
• Oahspe: A New Bible