Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies
Friday, December 2nd, 1859
(Private Session)
The minutes of the November 25th session were read.
REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION:
Letters received from Mr. L. Benardacky, from St. Petersburg and from
Ms. Elisa Johnson, from London, who request to be admitted as regular
members of the Society.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
Reading of two communications carried out by Mr. Bouche, former Rector
of the Academy, a writing medium, given by the spirit of the Duchess of
Longueville, with respect to her presence as a spirit in Port-Royal-desChamps.
These two communications are remarkable by their elevation of
thoughts. They demonstrate that certain spirits have pleasure in revisiting
the places where they lived, feeling delighted by the memories. No doubt
that the more dematerialized, the less they give importance to the worldly
things, but some remain still connected to them for a long time after death, and it seems that they continue their work in this world, or at least
they demonstrate certain interest by that.
STUDIES:
1st – Evocation of Mr. Count Desbassyns de Richemont, deceased
in June 1859, who professed the spiritist ideas for over ten years.
The evocation confirms the influence of these ideas on the release
of the spirit after death.
2nd – Evocation of Sister Martha, deceased in 1824.
3rd – Second evocation of Count R…C…, member of the
Society, in bed due to an illness, followed by questions addressed
to him about the momentary separation of the spirit from the
body, during the sleep (published in this number).
Friday, December 9th, 1859
(General Session)
Reading of the minutes of the December 2nd session.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
Mr. de la Roche reports remarkable communications that took place at a
house in Castelnaudary. The facts are described in a note which precedes
the report of the evocation, to be published.
STUDIES:
1st – Evocation of the king of Kanala (New Caledonia), already
evoked on October 28th, then writing with some difficulty, promising
to practice and return to write in a more intelligible way. He
gives curious explanations about the utilized mode of improvement
(to be published with the first evocation).
2nd – Evocation of the spirit of Castelnaudary. He manifests
through signs of intense wrath, incapable of writing anything. Seven
or eight pencils are broken, violently thrown onto the audience; the
medium’s arm is brutally shaken. St. Louis provides interesting explanations
about the condition and the nature of this spirit that, he says,
is of the worst kind and in one of the most unfortunate situations (to
be published with all other communications about the subject).
3rd – Four spontaneous communications are simultaneously
obtained: the first from St. Vincent de Paul, through Mr. Roze;
the second, from Charlet, through Mr. Didier junior, which is a
continuation of the work initiated by the same spirit; the third
from Mélanchthon, through Mr. Colin; the fourth from a spirit
who called himself Mikael, protector of children, by Mrs. Boyer.
Friday, December 16th, 1859
(Private Session)
Minutes of the previous session were read.
ADMISSIONS:
Mr. Benardacky from St. Petersburg and Ms. Elisa Johnson, from London,
introduced on December 2nd, are admitted as regular members.
REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION:
Mr. Forbes, from London, Engineering Officer, and Mrs. Forbes, from
Florence, send us letters requesting to be admitted as regular members of
the Society. Report and decision adjourned to the December 30th session.
Six officials are designated to split the works of the general sessions
until April 1st, without the need of designating one per session. In addition
they will have the task of indicating any infraction of the regulations
by the audience, then ignoring the requirements of the Society, so that
their sponsoring members may be warned.
As proposed by Mr. Allan Kardec, the Society decides that the Bulletin of
the sessions will be published in a supplement of the Review from now on, so
that its publication does not interfere with the regular matters of the journal.
As a consequence of that addition, each number will receive an addition of
about four pages, whose costs will be covered by the Society.
Mr. Leourd proposes that when there are five sessions in one
month, the fifth session should be of private character, which was adopted.
The same member further proposes that when a new member
is admitted they should be officially introduced to the other members
of the Society, so that they would not come as strangers, which was
also approved.
Mr. Thiry observes that many suffering spirits request the help of
prayers in order to mitigate their pain, but since we can lose track of them,
he proposes that their names be remembered in each session (adopted).
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – A letter received from Mr. Jobard, from Brussels, confirming
in details the fact of the Java manifestations, described by Mrs.
Pfeiffer and published in the December issue of the Review. He
obtained them from the Dutch general himself, to whom he was
associated, and being in charge of watching the house where those
things happened, and consequently an eyewitness. Published in
this number.
2nd – Reading of a communication of the spirit from
Castelnaudary, obtained by Mr. and Mrs. Forbes, attendees of the
last session. Circumstantial and interesting details of that spirit
are provided and also about the events which took place in the
referred house. Several other communications obtained about the
subject matter will be added and published when ready.
3rd – Reading of some news about Mrs. Xavier, clairvoyant
medium. That lady does not see the spirits at will but only when
they spontaneously present themselves to her, while she is not
in a somnambulistic or ecstatic state. Yet, at certain times she enters into a peculiar state, requiring calmness and reverence, to
the point that when questioned about what she is seeing, such a
state dissipates immediately and she no longer sees anything. In
the meantime, as she keeps a complete memory of everything
she can report it later. That is how she saw Sister Martha on the
very day that she was evoked, not leaving space for any doubt
regarding her identity. She also saw the spirit of Castelnaudary
in the last session, dressing a ragged shirt, holding a dagger in
his bloody hand, violently shaking the medium’s arm during his
writing attempts, as well as each time that St. Louis apparently
commanded him to write. He held a kind of stupid smile on his
face. Then, when told about the prayers it seems that he did not
understand in the beginning but soon after the explanation given
by St. Louis, he fell on his knees. The king of Kanala showed up
but with the head of a white man. He had blue eyes, mustache
and white sideburns, black hands, steel bracelets, a blue outfit
and the chest covered by a number of objects that she could not
distinguish. “Such appearance, someone said, is due to the fact
that before his latest existence he had been a French solider, during
the time of Louis XV. It was a consequence of his relatively
advanced state. He requested to return among his people, so that
as a chief he could bring ideas of progress. His form and the half
civilized, half savage appearance are supposed to show, in a different
way, the forms that the spirit can give to the perispirit, with
an educational objective and as an indication of the several states
he had experienced.”
Mrs. Xavier also saw the evoked spirits coming, responding
to the evocation and to the questions which had nothing negative
in their objective, then following St. Louis orders, and leaving so
that other spirits around could answer in turn, when the questions
then assumed an insidious direction.
“May the greatest of good-faiths and honesty dictate the questions,
and not a single dissimulated thought escape us” – added
the spirit questioned by the lady’s husband. “Never try to achieve your objectives through tortuous paths for you shall infallibly
miss them by doing so.”
She saw a fluidic crown around the medium’s head, as if
blocking the access of uncalled spirits for the communication,
since the answers should be sincere. However, once the crown
was removed, she saw several intruders disputing the vacant place.
Finally, she saw the spirit of Count R… in the form of a luminous
heart, upside-down, attached to a fluidic cord coming from
outside. We were told that it was to teach us that the spirit could
give the perispirit the appearance they wish. Then, it could have
presented her with the inconvenience of meeting an incarnated
sprit. Such inconvenience diminished or disappeared later.
STUDIES:
1st – Evocation of Charlet.
2nd – Three spontaneous communications, received simultaneously:
the first from St. Augustine, through Mr. Roze. It explains
the mission of Christ and confirms a very important point
explained by Arago, about the formation of the globe; the second
from Charlet, through Mr. Didier junior, continuing the work
already initiated; the third, from Joinville, signed in old orthographic
style: Amy de Loys, by Ms. Huet.
Friday, December 23rd, 1859
(General Session)
Reading of the minutes and works of the December 16th session.
REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION:
Letters received from Mr. Demange and from Mr. Soive, both Parisian
traders, requesting to become regular members. Report and decision adjourned
to the December 30th session.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Reading of a private evocation, carried out by Mrs. B…,
from the spirit that communicated spontaneously through her at
the Society, using the name Paul Miffet, at the moment of his
incarnation. This evocation, which presents an interesting picture
of the reincarnation and the physical and moral situation
of the spirit at the initial moments of the corporeal life, will be
published.
2nd – Letter from Mr. Paul Netz, about the facts which determined
the ownership of the ruins of the Vauvert castle, by
Chartreux, a castle located in the neighborhood of the Paris
Observatory, during the times of Louis IX. They say that diabolic
scenes have taken place in that castle, then stopping when
the monks were installed there. Once questioned about it, St.
Louis declares that he knew about the story but that it was pure
charlatanism.
STUDIES:
1st – Several moral questions addressed to St. Louis about the state
of suffering spirits. These will be published.
2nd – Evocation of John Brown.
3rd – Three spontaneous communications: the first by Mr. Roze
and signed by the Spirit of Truth, with several advices to the Society;
the second from Charlet, through Mr. Didier Junior, continuing the
work; the third about the spirits who preside over the flowers, by
Mrs. B…
Allan Kardec
