Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist StudiesFriday, October 5th 1860
(Private Session)
Committee meeting.
Minutes and works of the August 24th session were read.
After having received a letter requesting membership from Mr. B…
and after having had the report and verbal appreciation by the Committee,
the Society admits Mr. B, a Parisian trader, as a member.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Mr. Allan Kardec reports the result of his trip on behalf of
Spiritism and gladly mentions the warm reception he received everywhere
and especially in Sens, Macon, Lyon and Saint-Etienne.
He was able to attest to the considerable progress of Spiritism in
every place he visited; however, what is worth mentioning is that
he has not seen people making use of Spiritism as a distraction. In
all places people were seriously involved and understood its reach
and its future consequences. There are still many opponents, no doubt, from which the most bloodthirsty have self-serving interests
but the number of mockers have reduced noticeably.
Seeing that their sarcasm does not invite the jokers to their
side, and that those do more favor than harm to the progress of
the new beliefs, they start to understand that they have nothing
to gain and waste their energy in a useless loss, thus they go silent.
A good word to characterize the agenda everywhere, is that:
Spiritism is in the air. It shows well the state of things. But it is
in Lyon that the results are more impressive. Spiritism is present
in large numbers in all social classes there, having hundreds of
members in the working class. Spiritism has exerted the healthiest
influence upon the working class from the standpoint of organization,
moral and religious ideas. In short, Spiritism propagates
with the most encouraging speed.
Mr. Allan Kardec reads the speech given by Mr. Guillaume during the
banquet offered to him by the spiritists of Lyon followed by his response.
In recognition for the testimonies of sympathy that the comrades
of Lyon gave to the Society, it returns a message of acknowledgement
whose outline was submitted to the Committee which made
amendments. The message will be transmitted by the President.
Mr. Allan Kardec met Mr. R… in Saint-Etienne, hearing
from him the description of a system that was dictated to him
through what he calls unconscious writing. His system will be object
of a special study in the future.
Besides, he reports a very curious case of physical obsession of
a person from Lyon; of a case of clairvoyance, that he witnessed,
and a phenomenon of transfiguration that took place near SaintEtienne,
with a young lady that at certain times took the complete
appearance of her brother, deceased a few years back.
2nd – Report given of a remarkable case of a spirit’s identity,
which occurred on a ship from the imperial navy, anchored
in the China Sea. The fleet surgeon, present at the session, reported
the fact. Everyone on the ship, from the lowest seaman
recruit to the highest officer ranks were involved with evocations
but nobody knew the means of obtaining written communications;
hence, alphabetical typtology was used. Someone
had the idea of evoking a lieutenant that had died two years ago.
Among other details, he said: “I insist that you pay the captain
the amount of…(the value is indicated), that I owe him, and I
regret not being able to pay him back before I died.” Nobody
knew the fact. The captain himself had forgotten all about it
but checking his accounts he found a note about the lieutenant’s
debt, whose value was absolutely identical to the number
indicated by the spirit.
3rd – Mr. de Grand-Boulogne reads a nice piece of poetry that
he dedicated to his familiar spirit.
STUDIES:
1st – Questions addressed to St. Louis about his apparition to a
medium from Lyon, in the presence of Mr. Allan Kardec. He
answers: “Yes, it was me. It was my duty to stay with the director
of the Society that I sponsor.” Other questions about the physical
impression produced in certain writing mediums by the good and
bad spirits.
2nd – Evocation of Mr. Ch. de P…, who was found drowned
and whose death was considered a suicide. He denies the account
and tells us that accidental causes led to his death.
3rd – Spontaneous essay signed by Lamennais, received by
Mr. D…
Friday, October 12th, 1860
(General Session)
Committee meeting.
Presided by Mr. Jobard, honorary President from Brussels.
Works and minutes of the October 5th session were read.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Multiple communications received by Mrs. S… were read:
The Orphans, signed by Jules Morin. Others signed by Alfred de
Musset: The Queen of Ouda, by Nicolas.
2nd – A spontaneous essay signed by St. Louis was read, received
by Mr. Darcol, containing several pieces of advice for
spiritists.
3rd – Letter from Mr. J… from Terre-Noire, to Mr. Allan
Kardec, about the painful impressions caused in him by the explanation
of Mr. R… system.
STUDIES:
1st – Evocation of Saul, King of the Jews. He states that he is not
the one communicating through Ms. B… The spirit that communicates
in the group of that young lady had taught a particular
system whose main points are: 1st – The older the earthly existence
of the spirit, the more advanced it is, and consequently
St. Louis is less advanced than him because he had died more
recently.
2nd – The spirits only incarnate on Earth, in three incarnations
only, not more, not less, being that sufficient for them to
move from the lowest to the highest level of the scale.
Since Mr. Allan Kardec had fought this theory as irrational
and denied by facts, the spirit insisted on trying to change his mind. He was evoked and proved incapable of sustaining his theory,
but he did not give in, asking to be heard in another private
session and through his customary medium.
NOTA: The session was held a few days later and the spirit
persisted with the name Saul, King of the Jews. Nonetheless, under
the pressure of the questions he gave proofs of the most absolute
ignorance saying, for example, that the incarnation of the
spirits only takes place on Earth because this is the only solid
planet. In his opinion all other globes are gaseous and could not
serve the purpose of being inhabited by corporeal beings. When
his theory was contested by the phenomena of eclipses of the Sun
he argued that the Sun had never been eclipsed by Mercury or
Venus, a fact that the astronomers were not always in agreement
about.
This fact demonstrates once more that the spirits are far from
having the whole science and also how much it is necessary to be
on guard against systems that out of pride, some of them try to
impose through a few beautiful maxims. This one, despite his
arrogance, showed his weak spot with the ridiculous theory of
the planets, demonstrating that he must have been less educated
than the last student, which does not mean a lot regarding his
condition. When these spirits find an audience to their words
with a blind trust they take advantage; however, they will be less
frequent the more we are aware of the need to submit every communication
to the strictest crucible of logic and reason. When
these spirits see that people are no longer deluded by the respectable
names that they take and that they cannot impose their utopias,
they will understand they are wasting their time and will be
silent.
2nd – Evocation of the spirit that communicates through
Mr. R… and that has also dictated a complete system to him.
This study shall be carried out later.
3rd – Spontaneous essay received by Mr. D… about infused
science, signed by St. Louis. This communication seems to have
been provoked by the subjects discussed during the session.
4th – Drawing obtained by Ms. J… and signed by Ary
Scheffer.
5th – Evocation of Nicholas by Ms. J… As usual he manifests
violently, saying: “Asking me to calm down is to ask me not to be
myself. As you see I still burn. The breath of battle has taken me
over.” Questioned why he was so calm with Ms. S… he said: “I
had used an interpreter to avoid breaking this delicate creature;
I was able to produce good and beautiful thoughts but I could
not write them myself.” Another spirit manifests spontaneously
through Ms. J… Given his extreme kindness, calm, correct and
almost framed writing, contrasting with the notably nervous,
wide and impatient writing of N…, the medium believes to recognize
John the Evangelist, that has manifested several times in
that way. He talks about the efficacy of the prayer and reminds
the prophecies of the Apocalypse which find application these
days.
Friday, October 19th, 1860
(Private Session)
Committee meeting.
The works and minutes of the previous session were read.
By recommendation of the Committee and after a verbal report, Mr.
G… trader from Paris, and Mr. D…, employee of the Post Office, were
admitted as members.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – A communication received by Mrs. S… from her brother was
read. It is remarkable by the elevation of thoughts, demonstrating
the affection of the spirits by their loving ones on Earth.
2nd – Mrs. Desl… reads the evocation of a former maid who
died when working for her family. This evocation, in which the
spirit demonstrates her attachment and good feelings, offers a
remarkable particularity regarding the language details, similar
to people from rural areas, having the spirit preserved even with
those who were familiar to her.
3rd – A case of identity regarding the spirit of Mr. Charles
de P…, who was evoked on the October 5th session. The person
to whom he had manifested in Bordeaux, and who had evoked
him again in the first days of this month, that person learned
through him that he was called to the Society where he had
confirmed what he had said before about the accidental cause of
his death. Soon after the person received a letter from Mr. Allan
Kardec giving details of the evocation at the Society.
4th – Report of several cases of vaporous and tangible apparitions,
and also transportation of material objects that took place
with Mr. de St.-G…, present at the session, as well as with one of
his relatives. These cases will be examined later.
STUDIES:
1st – Evocation of the spirit that manifested visually to Mr. de
St.-G… He gives some explanations but indicates that he prefers
to communicate through his usual medium.
2nd – Evocation of a spirit that uses the name Balthazar, spontaneously
revealed to Ms. H…, showing gastronomical dispositions.
This evocation offers great interest from the point of view
of the study of non-dematerialized spirits, who still keep the instincts
of the earthly life.
3rd – Three spontaneous essays were received: the first by
Mr. Didier Jr, about Christianity and signed by Lamennais;
the second by Mrs. Costel, about the inferior spirits, signed by
Delphine de Girardin; the third by Ms. Huet: The kiss of peace,
a parable signed by Channing.
