General Background to Modern Spiritualism
Most of the various forms of psychic phenomena associated with the
Spiritualist movement are as old as man himself. Throughout the ages human
beings have been aware of the existence of spirit-people. In early days,
when man lived close to nature, ancestor-worship became a form of religion;
primitive man had no doubt that his ancestors had survived death and that
they had powers to affect the living for good or ill. Therefore due
reverence was shown to them in order to incur favour. The wise men of the
tribe, who were possessed of psychic powers, the equivalent of modern
mediums, would testify to the presence of the spirits and forms of
communication were established with them.
The Greeks consulted oracles and the Assyrians and Romans practised
divination by augury to obtain guidance from the gods. Even today some
cultures have their witch-doctors, who invoke the powers of the spirit for
healing. It can be seen, therefore, that there is nothing new in the concept
of a spiritual world inhabited by discarnate beings or in the use of psychic
power to achieve spirit communication.
The early Christian Church was founded on the basis of mediumship, Jesus of
Nazareth being considered to have been an exceptionally gifted psychic and
medium, as illustrated in the reports of his healing powers, inspired
teachings, and so-called ‘miracles’. After the Crucifixion it is recorded
that Jesus was seen and heard by Paul and others and it is clear that
mediumship played an important part in the work of the Apostles in the
spreading of this new religion and its presentation in Church services. The
Bible in both the Old and New Testaments has many references to psychic
abilities, inspirational speech, speaking in other languages, physical
mediumship, healing and so on.
However, the 4th century Council of Nicaea brought to an end the use of
mediums and held that divine guidance, through the Holy Spirit, should be
sought only from the priesthood: ‘false prophets’ were held to be servants
of the devil, and sorcerers, heretics and mediums were all targets for
persecution as a result of ‘witch-mania’.
This accelerated in the Middle Ages, when religious sanction for this
persecution was given in 1484 by a papal bull and by the publication of the
Malleus Maleficarum or ‘Hammer of the Witches’. During this long period of
persecution anyone suspected of using psychic gifts for whatever purpose was
in danger of torture, trial and burning, and hundreds of thousands of
mediums were put to death by organised ‘witch-hunters’.
 |
| Epworth Rectory: Home of the Wesley Family where spirit knocking occurred in the 18th century. |
 |
| Farmstead of the Fox Family |
 |
Emmanuel Swedenborg |
 |
Andrew Jackson-Davis |
 |
|
| The Fox Sisters | |
Spiritual phenomena in the form of knockings also occurred in the 18th century in England at the Epworth Rectory, home of the Wesley family.
The Beginning of Modern Spiritualism
Modern Spiritualism is generally considered to date from events which occurred at Hydesville, New York State, U.S.A.,
on March 31st 1848, when two sisters, Margaretta and Catherine Fox,
established intelligent communication with a spirit entity which had been
responsible for noisy rappings in the household. The publicity which this
aroused and the numerous investigations carried out at the time allowed
mediumship to come out into the open once more and many home circles sprang
up for the purpose of further communication. In a short space of time many
societies of Spiritualists were formed in America, based not merely upon the
psychic phenomena produced but also upon the religious implications which
lay behind the teachings received from spirit through the new revelation.
Both the phenomena and the teachings attracted the attention of eminent
scientists and intellectuals in America and (from 1852) Britain, to which
Spiritualism was brought by Mrs Hayden, who was both persecuted and insulted
by the press and the pulpit. In spite of this her mediumship was defended by
many public figures, including Robert Owen, Socialist and one of the
founders of the Co-operative Movement, who embraced Spiritualism after
sittings with her, and many adherents were attracted to the cause.
In 1853 the first Spiritualist Church was established in the British Isles
by David Richmond at Keighley in Yorkshire (still in use today), and the
first Spiritualist newspaper in Britain, The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph,
was published in 1855, also at Keighley. By the 1870s there were numerous
Spiritualist societies and churches throughout the country.
In 1869 a Committee appointed by the Dialectical Society investigated
Spiritualism and published the most favourable report on the movement up to
that time by any investigating body. Two years later Sir William Crookes
reported on Spiritualism to the Royal Society and published his findings in
the Quarterly Journal of Science. The British National Association of
Spiritualists (renamed in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance and now
known as the College of Psychic Science) was founded in London in 1873,
followed by the Society for Psychical Research in 1882. Five years later the
Two Worlds Spiritualist weekly newspaper was founded by Mrs Emma Hardinge
Britten, through whose mediumship in 1871 Robert Owen had communicated the
basis of the Seven Principles of Spiritualism, which were later to be
adopted by the Spiritualists’ National Union as the basis of its religious
philosophy.
 |
| Emma Hardinge |
In the early days of the movement the most important necessity had been the
complete freedom to develop and promote through multiple channels of
communication the reception of the new spiritual inspiration without
recourse to the establishment of a central organisation or administration.
Some twenty years after the introduction of the movement to Britain it was
now becoming apparent that there was a need to unite the many scattered
churches and societies into some kind of federation in order to present a
common front against persecution, win religious recognition and freedom of
worship for its adherents and exponents, achieve a greater unanimity of
opinion concerning the fundamental basis of Spiritualist beliefs, and give a
new impetus and direction to the movement through co-ordination and
co-operation. This task fell to Mrs Britten, a gifted orator and writer, who
had launched the Two Worlds in 1887 and was the joint composer of the Lyceum
Manual published in the same year.
For details of the history of the Spiritualists' National Union itself then
follow this link:-
SNUhistory