Exploitation of SpiritismNorth America claims, and rightly so, the honor of having been the
first to reveal the manifestations from beyond the grave in our times;
why must she also be the first to give examples of commerce and among
these people, so advanced in so many ways and so worthy of our sympathy,
why has the commercial instinct not stopped at the doorway of
eternal life? Reading their newspapers we find ads like the ones below on
every page:
“Mrs. S. E. Royers, somnambulist, medium-doctor, psychological
cure through sorcery. Common treatment if required. Description of
physiognomy, morality and the soul of people. From 10am to 12pm,
Mon-Thu; from 7-10pm, except Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays,
unless previously arranged. Price: $1/hour.”
We believe that the sympathy of that medium by her patients seems to be
in direct proportion to the amount of dollars paid. It seems unnecessary
to provide the addresses.
“Mrs. E. C. Morris, writing medium; from 10am-12pm, and 7-9pm,
Mon-Fri.”
“J.B. Conklin, medium. Welcomes guests to his salon every day and
every evening. Attend at his home.”
“A. C. Styles, lucid medium, guarantees accurate diagnostic of disease
of a present person or money back. Strictly imposed rules: a lucid in
person exam and prescription, $2; psychometric descriptions of characters,
$3. Do not forget that appointments are paid in advance.”
“To the amateurs of Spiritualism. Mrs. Beck, trance medium, speaking,
spelling, knocking and rapping. True observers may schedule an
appointment from 9-10pm at her residence. Mrs. Beck is associated
as being a very powerful rapping medium.”
Would you think that there is such commerce only among obscure and
ignorant speculators? Here is the contrary proof:
“Dr. G. A. Redman, experienced medium, is back to New York. He
can be found at his home address where he receives as before.”
The exploitation of Spiritualism extended even to common objects. We
read an ad in the Spiritual Telegraph from New York: “Spiritual matches,
new invention without friction and smell.”
Even more remarkable for that country is the following ad that we found
in the Weekly American, from Baltimore, dated February 5th, 1859:
“Statistics of Spiritualism. The Spiritual Register from 1859 estimates
as 1,284,000 the number of spiritualists in the USA. The
Register accounts for 1,000 spiritualist speakers; 40,000 public and
private mediums; 500 books and brochures; 6 weekly, 4 monthly and
3 bi-weekly journals dedicated to that cause.”
The exploiting mediums arrived in England. There are many in London
who charge nothing less than 1.25 francs per session. We hope that if they
try to come to France the common sense of the true spiritist will do them
justice.
The production of physical effects excites more curiosity than it touches
the heart. Hence the mediums with those skills have the tendency of exploiting
such curiosity. Those who only receive moral communications
of a higher order have an instinctive distaste for anything that may have
smell of speculation of any kind. The reasons for the former are twofold:
first, exploitation of curiosity is more profitable because there are a large
number of curious people in every country; second, the physical phenomena
act less on the moral side thus their scruples are diminished. To their
eyes, their skills are a gift that must help them to get by like a beautiful
voice is to a singer. The moral question is secondary or inexistent. Thus,
once walking that path their self-serving interest develops the skills of
astuteness. As a matter of fact, who knows if the customer today will
come back again tomorrow? Then, he must be satisfied at any price. If the
spirit does not satisfy the customer, the medium will do something that
is easier from a material point of view than from a moral or intelligent
communication, of elevated moral and philosophical reach. The former
ones find recourses in conjuring that is greatly absent in the latter ones.
That is why we say that the morality of a medium must be taken into
account before anything else; that the best defense against trickery is in
the medium’s character, his honorability, his absolute altruism. Whenever
there is a shadow of interest, however minor it may be, there is reason for
suspicion. Fraud is always disgraceful but when related to moral issues it
is blasphemy.
Someone that knows Spiritism only by name and tries to imitate its effects
is not more reprehensible than the juggler who tries to imitate the
experiments of a wise Physicist. There is no doubt that it would be better
that such a thing would never happen but in reality he is not deceiving
anyone since his condition cannot be hidden. He only hides the means.
The same cannot be said about someone that knows the holiness of what
he is trying to imitate with the despicable objective of mystification.
This is more than a fraud. It is hypocrisy since one tries to impersonate
what one cannot do. One is even more culpable if truly endowed by some mediumistic faculty and uses that to continuously abuse the trust
put in him. God knows what is reserved to them, even here on Earth. If
the false mediums harm themselves only this would then be a half-evil.
The worst part is the ammunition that they supply to the non-believers
and the disgraceful behavior shown to undecided persons when such
fraud is unveiled. We do not contest their faculties, even some powerful
ones of certain mercenaries, but we say that greed is a direct path to the
temptation of fraud that must inspire distrust, all the more legitimate,
that one cannot see in this exploitation, the effect of zeal for the sole
good of the cause.
Even when there is no fraud, criticism may still reproach someone that
speculates with something as sacred as the soul of the dead.
