The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Spiritualism S 429

higher and higher planes, guided by lofty teaching spirits. Spiritualism declined somewhat in the 1860s, hurt by fraudulent mediums and national preoc cupation with the Civil War, but revived after ward, as it often has following wars as bereaved survivors seek to contact loved ones lost in bat tle. Spiritualism also spread around the world from the United States, taking root in England, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin Amer ica especially. The first Spiritualist churches and denominations, in contrast to home circles and study groups, appeared around the 1890s. Spiri tualist “camps” and then communities, like Lily Dale in New York state and Cassadaga in Florida, appeared and survive today. During the 1920s Spiritualism had another revival, sparked in part by the convert and tireless lecturer on its behalf Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), the creator of Sherlock Holmes. In the second half of the 20th century tradi tional Spiritualism seemed in decline. But its place has largely been taken by the N EW A GE MOVEMENT , which has shown many similar attitudes and ideas. What the New Age calls channeling seems similar to mediumship, although it is usually more con cerned with communications from ancient teach ers of high wisdom than messages from loved ones. The view of the afterlife presented by near death experiences, a characteristic New Age inter est, as well as by various teachers associated with the movement, is not very different from that of Spiritualism. Many large and important new religious move ments around the world, especially in Latin Amer ica, Africa, and East Asia, give important place to shamanistic or mediumistic communication with spirits and have clearly been influenced by 19th century Spiritualism as well as by local cultures. They respond to what is clearly a universal need. Further reading: Ann Braude, Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth Century America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001); Arthur Conan Doyle, The Wanderings of a Spiritualist, Rpt. (Oakland, Calif.: Ronin,

its are often of deceased loved ones but may also be of great teaching figures on “the other side.” Modern Spiritualism began in 1848, when the two young Fox sisters, Margaretta (aged 11) and Kate (8) in upstate New York reported hear ing mysterious rappings in their house, which they ascertained to be a departed spirit attempt ing to communicate in something like the newly invented Morse Code. News of this event spread rapidly, and before long such communications by rappings, and soon enough by voice medi umship, spread across the country. In the 1850s Spiritualism became a vogue. “Home circles” gathered around mediums, Spiritualist lecturers drew large crowds, and controversy concerning the authenticity of the phenomenon filled the pages of the press. Despite its newness, Spiritualism also claimed, with some reason, to be “the oldest religion in the world,” going back to ancient SHAMANISM . Yet it had a special appeal for a new age that considered itself scientific and democratic. Spiritualists declared that now for the first time religious tenets concerning the spiritual world and the afterlife could be tested scientifically, by experiments and firsthand expe rience, and did not have to rely merely on FAITH . The new religion also saw itself as democratic, since anyone with the talent for it could become a medium; the role did not depend on education or church appointment. Many women, who certainly could not hope to exercise comparable spiritual leadership in a mainline church in the 19th cen tury, became prominent Spiritualist mediums and speakers. Early Spiritualists also tended to support the progressive social and political causes of the time, such as the abolition of slavery, the rights of women, new methods of education, and prison reform. Spiritualism quickly developed a general doctrine of the afterlife, largely based on teach ings like those of the Swedish mystic philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and the Vien nese developer of hypnotic trance Anton Mesmer (1734–1815). It saw life after death as educative more than punitive. After death the spirit enters the “Summerland” and from there advances to