Step back into the 19th and early 20th centuries to explore a defining era of modern spiritual history: the birth of the Spiritist movement and the dramatic rise of evidential mediumship. This course bridges historical research, sociology, and the evolution of spiritual practice, tracing how a cultural phenomenon transformed the way humanity views life, death, and communication with the unseen. We will examine the movement’s origins, from the foundational codification of Spiritism by Allan Kardec in France to the global obsession with séances and spirit manifestations. Rather than looking at these events in a vacuum, we will analyze the socio-political climates—including the devastating losses of major wars—that turned mediumship from a parlor curiosity into a profound spiritual movement seeking verifiable proof of survival. In this course, we will explore:
The Foundations of Spiritism: A deep dive into Allan Kardec’s codification, the "Spiritualist craze" triggered by the Fox Sisters, and how the movement spread across Europe and the Americas.
The Mechanics of Evidential Mediumship: How the focus shifted from physical phenomena (like table-tipping and ectoplasm) to evidential mediumship—delivering specific, verifiable facts to prove the continuity of consciousness.
Grief, War, and Spiritualism: How the mass casualties of the American Civil War and World War I fueled a societal need for contact with the afterlife, reshaping religious landscapes.
This course is ideal for practitioners looking to ground their understanding of mediumship in historical truth and primary source evidence. Come prepared to uncover the lineage of modern spiritual practice.
