Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies
Excerpts from the minutes
Friday, November 16th, 1860
(Private session)
Admission of two new members.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Several dissertations obtained outside the sessions are read.
2nd – Letter received from Mr. de Porry, from Marseille,
who sends the second edition of his poem Uranie as a gift to the
Society. The Society thanks the author and is happy to see he
has taken the same appreciation of his talent and applied them
to spiritist ideas. These ideas adorn a graceful form of poetry and
have a charm that makes them more easily accepted by those who
could be shocked by the severity of dogmatic expressions.
3rd – Letter from Mr. L… providing new details about the
rapping and obsessing spirit that has already been discussed by
the Society (see report below).
4th – Letter from Mrs. G… from the Indre Department, about
pranks and plundering that has victimized them for several years, attributed
to a malicious spirit. The events involve six sisters and despite
every precaution that they might have taken, their clothes are thrown
out of their drawers, although duly locked, and frequently torn apart.
5th – Mr. Th… reports a case of violent obsession exerted upon
a medium by a bad spirit, who he was able to dominate and expel
though. The spirit wrote to Mr. Th…: “I hate you because you dominate
me.” He has not showed up ever since and the medium has no
longer been molested in the exercise of his mediumship.
6th – Mr. Allan Kardec cites a personal case of remarkable
accuracy related to an indication given by the spirits: in a conversation
that took place the other day with his familiar spirit,
he was told: “You will find in today’s Le Siècle an article about this
subject which answer your question. We were the ones who inspired
the author with the thesis that he exposes, given his adhesion to the
great humanitarian reforms in preparation.”
The article that was unknown to Mr. Allan Kardec and to
the medium was in fact in the referred periodical, under the
designated title, demonstrating that the spirits may be aware of
earthly publications.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teachings. Communication received by Mr. Didier, signed
by Cazotte. Another communication by Mrs. Costel, with complaints
from a suffering and selfish spirit.
Evocations: Second conversation with the gastronome spirit who used
the name Balthazar and that someone thought to have known by the
name of Mr. G… de la R…, confirmed by the spirit.
Multiple questions: Questions addressed to St. Louis about the rapping
spirit mentioned in Mr. L… letter, as well as the case of the harassing spirit of Mrs. G… and sisters. As for the latter St. Louis acknowledges it to be
easier to moralize him since he is more mischievous than a dangerous spirit.
Friday, November 23rd, 1860
General session
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
Some messages received outside the session were read:
• A sinner enters the spiritual world, received by Mrs. Costel and
signed by Novel;
• The punishment of the selfish, by the same lady. This message is
related to another from the same spirit, obtained in the previous
session;
• Another message about the free-will, signed by Marsillac.
Thoughts from the Spirit of Truth about the communications regarding
the punishment of the selfish, received by Mr. M. C…
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teachings:
1st – The family leprechaun, signed by Charles Nodier, received
by Mrs. Costel;
2nd – Parable of Lazarus, signed by Lamennais, received by
Mr. A. Didier;
3rd – The spirit of Alfred de Musset is introduced through Ms.
Eugenie; he offers to discuss a subject chosen by the audience; since
he was asked to choose it himself he gives a remarkable dissertation
about the consolations of Spiritism. He then offers to respond to
questions and deals with the following themes: What is the influence
of poetry on Spiritism? Will there be a Spiritist art, as there
has been a Pagan and a Christian art? Women’s role in the XIX
century.
Evocations: Evocation of Cazotte who had spontaneously manifested in
the previous session. Several questions were addressed to him about the
gift of premonition that he seems to have had when alive.
SEVERAL QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS:
About the spirits’ ubiquity in visual manifestations;
About the spirits of darkness, regarding the manifestations of
Mr. Squire, that can only be produced in the dark.
Note: We will deal with this subject in a special article and we
will refer to Mr. Squire.
Mr. Jobard reads three charming poems of his authorship: Le
Bonheur des Martyrs, L’Oiseau de Paradis and L’Annexion, the last
one being a fable.
Friday, November 30th, 1860
Private session
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS:
Collective letter, signed by several members, with respect to Mr. L… The
Society accepted the conclusions from the Committee’s report.
A letter from Mr. Sol…, requesting to be dismissed from his position
as a Committee member, due to his frequent business trips that keep him
away from Paris most of the year.
The Society regrets Mr. Sol… decision but feels happy to be able to
keep him as a member. Mr. President is assigned with the task of responding
in the following terms: His replacement shall be done in due course.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Spontaneous dissertation by St. Louis with explanations
about ubiquity. Discussion about this communication.
2nd – Another one signed by Charles Nodier, obtained by a medium
uninvolved with the Society and transmitted by Mr. Didier
Sr., regarding the article against Spiritism in the Journal des Débats.
3rd – Mr. D… from the Vienne Department insistently asks
that Mr. Jean-Baptiste D…, his father in law, be evoked. The
Society never attends such requests when the objective is of private
interest, particularly when the persons involved are absent or
when those persons are unknown to the members. Nevertheless,
considering the dignifying character and the official position of
the corresponding member; the special circumstances surrounding
the deceased and his life-long sustained atheism, the Society
decides that such evocation may be useful as a subject of study. As
a consequence, he was included in the day’s schedule.
4th – Several members reported an interesting phenomenon
of physical manifestation witnessed by them. It consists of the
lifting of a person only by mediumistic influence of two young
ladies, age 15 and 16 years old respectively, who place two fingers
on the frame of a chair to have it raised nearly 3 ft. from the floor,
regardless of the weight of the person sitting in the chair, as if it
was something extremely light. The phenomenon was repeated
several times and always with the same result. The explanation
will be given in a special article.
5th – Mr. Jobard reads his article entitled La Conversion d’un
paysan.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teachings:
Dissertation about the ubiquity, from Ms. Huet, signed by Channing.
Another from Mr. A. Didier, signed by André Chénier, about the article
in the Journal des Débats. And another dissertation signed by Raquel, received
by Mrs. Costel.
A remarkable fact about two previous communications is that when a
given subject of some importance is listed to be discussed on a given day
it is common to have it discussed by several spirits through different mediums
and in different places. It seems that each spirit who is interested
in the subject wants to contribute to the teaching which is a consequence
of the communications.
Evocations:
1st – Mr. Jean-Baptiste D…, mentioned above, and his
brother, both materialists and atheists. The situation of the first one who
committed suicide is deplorable.
2nd – Evocation of Mr. C… de B…, from
Brussels, following the request of his personal acquaintance Mr. Jobard.
Friday, December 7th, 1860
Private session
Admission of Mr. C…, a Professor from Paris, as a member.
SEVERAL COMMUNICATIONS:
Reading of a dissertation signed by the Spirit of Truth, obtained in a private
session, at Mr. Allan Kardec’s house, with respect to the definition of
art and the distinction between Pagan, Christian and Spiritist art.
Mr. Theub… complements the definition saying that one can consider
pagan art as the expression of the material feeling; Christian art as the
expression of expiation and the Spiritist art as the expression of victory.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spontaneous teaching:
Dissertation signed by Lamennais, through Mr. Didier.
Another dissertation through Ms. Huet, signed by Charles Nodier, in
which he continues to develop the subject initiated on August 24th, 1860,
although nobody had any memory of that fact.
And another signed by Georges, received by Mrs. Costel.
Evocations: Dr. Kane, American traveler and explorer of the North
Pole, who discovered an open sea just beyond the polar glacial belt.
Several questions:
Questions addressed to Charles Nodier about the
causes that may influence the communications in certain sessions, particularly
when the spirits don’t show their usual eloquence. The point was
discussed.
Friday, December 14th, 1860
General session
Mr. Indermuhle, from Berne, pays tribute to the Society with a German
brochure published in Glaris, in 1855, entitled L’Eternite n’est plus un secret
or Revelations les plus evidentes sur le monde des Espirits.
SEVERAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Reading of a very interesting evocation and several spiritist
dissertations obtained outside of the sessions.
2nd – The event of visual manifestation referred in the letter
of Mr. Indermuhle addressed to the Society.
3rd – Personal fact that occurred with Mr. Allan Kardec and
that can be considered as a proof of identity of the spirit of a former
character. Ms. J… received several communications with John the
Evangelist, always with a very characteristic writing and completely
different from her usual way of writing. At her request, Mr. Allan
Kardec evoked that spirit instead through Mrs. Costel, it was attested
that the writing had absolutely the same traces as that through Ms.
J…, although the new medium did not know about the fact; besides,
the movement of the hand showed in both cases a rare smoothness,
constituting a similarity; finally, the answers agreed in all points with
those obtained through Ms. J… and there wasn’t anything in the
language that was not at the level of the evoked spirit.
4th – News sent by Mr. D… about the remarkable case of a
farmer who had a vision and a revelation a few days before his
death.
WORKS CARRIED OUT IN THE SESSION:
Spiritist spontaneous communications:
Three characters: Hamlet, Tartuffe and Don Juan, message
by Mr. A. Didier, signed by Gerard de Nerval.
Fantasy, through Mrs. Costel, signed by Alfred de Musset.
The trial, by Ms. Eugenie, signed by Leo X.
Evocation of the above mentioned farmer. He gives some explanations
about his visions. The spelling issues and the language
very similar to a country person constitute a remarkable fact.
Several questions addressed to St. Louis about issues related to this
evocation.
