"A work that is still up-to-date, What is Spiritism? is useful for adherents of the Spiritist Doctrine as well as for those who want to understand the nature of Spiritism and its fundamental points. Kardec's logic and common sense are obvious in this book as he confounds Spiritism's detractors while answering the questions of those who believe in and aspire to a superior life. The book is divided into three chapters. The first is composed of dialogues between Kardec and a critic, a skeptic and a priest, providing answers to those who do not understand the basic principles of Spiritism. It also presents appropriate refutations to its opponents. The second chapter presents practical and experimental aspects of the science and is a kind of summary of The Mediums' Book. The third chapter is a short synthesis of The Spirits' Book, with solutions to psychological, moral and philosophical problems according to the Spiritist Doctrine. In addition, the book is prefaced with an abridged version of Henri Sausse's biography of Allan Kardec."--

THE PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITISMABOUT THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, THE NATURE OF SPIRITS AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH HUMANKIND, MORAL LAW, PRESENT LIFE, FUTURE LIFE AND THE FATE OF HUMANITY

Wanting to popularize Spiritism and make spreading it easier and quicker, but without prejudicing the basic works of the Spiritist Doctrine, Allan Kardec wrote a number of booklets and distributed them throughout France at prices that were affordable for anyone who might be interested. Some of them had several printings and were highly successful. They continued to be republished even after the Codifier’s discarnation. This is one of those booklets. It is hoped that Spiritist readers will find that this unpretentious work enriches their knowledge of the Spiritist Doctrine.

After you have read The Spirits’ Book, you will no longer have any reason to fear death. The Spirits’ Book will provide you with the answers to nearly all the questions you may have with regards to the origin, nature and destiny of each and every soul on earth – and those of other worlds as well. It also addresses the issues of God, creation, moral laws and the nature of spirits and their relationships with humans. The book contains answers that were dictated to mediums by highly evolved spirits who love God. The Spirits’ Book is the initial landmark publication of a Doctrine that has made a profound impact on the thought and view of life of a considerable portion of humankind since the first French edition was published in 1857.

Published in 1885, this was one of the first works to attempt a complete psychological explanation of all occult phenomena.

The Gospel according to Spiritism is one of the five books that make up the Spiritist Codification, a set of teachings transmitted by high order spirits, and organized and commented upon by Allan Kardec. This work contains the essence of the moral teaching of Jesus, and therefore is a refuge where the followers of all religions – and even those who have no religion – may join hands, because it offers a sure itinerary for our inner reform, the objective indicated by Christ as indispensable for achieving our future happiness and inner peace: that achievement which only the full observance of the divine laws can provide to the spirit on its gradual evolutionary path toward God.

Practiced in community centers and psychiatric hospitals throughout Brazil, Spiritist therapies are gaining increasing recognition internationally for their ability to complement conventional medicine. This pioneering text is the first comprehensive account of the philosophy, theory, practical applications and wider relevance of Spiritist therapies to be published in the English language. Leading practitioners and researchers in the field describe the history, principles and diagnostic processes of the Spiritist approach to mental health, and provide an extensive summary of the various methodologies used, including spiritual mediumship, energy work, prayer, homeopathy, past life regression and the practice of integrating spirituality into counselling and psychotherapy. Considering the ways in which Spiritism aligns with contemporary science, they show that the Spiritist model has the potential to bring about a positive transformation in the ways in which mental health care is conceptualized and delivered around the globe. The final part of the book explores how Spiritist centers and psychiatric hospitals are established and financed, with specific examples from Brazil and the USA. Providing important new insights into the rich tradition of Brazilian Spiritism, this authoritative text will be of interest to mental health professionals, counselors, therapists and alternative and complementary health practitioners.

"This book is an extraordinary introduction to the wellness tradition of Brazilian Spiritists. Dr. Bragdon captured the essence of this grassroots model that will one day transform our medical care environment."--John Zerio, Ph.D., president of the Allan Dardec Educational Society.

Western esotericism has now emerged as an academic study in its own right, combining spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating the humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order. This introduction to the Western esoteric traditions offers a concise overview of their historical development. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke explores these traditions, from their roots in Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up to their reverberations in today's scientific paradigms. While the study of Western esotericism is usually confined to the history of ideas, Goodrick-Clarke examines the phenomenon much more broadly. He demonstrates that, far from being a strictly intellectual movement, the spread of esotericism owes a great deal to geopolitics and globalization. In Hellenistic culture, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, which stretched across Egypt and Western Asia to provinces in India, facilitated a mixing of Eastern and Western cultures. As the Greeks absorbed ideas from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, they gave rise to the first esoteric movements. From the late sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, post-Reformation spirituality found expression in theosophy, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Similarly, in the modern era, dissatisfaction with the hegemony of science in Western culture and a lack of faith in traditional Christianity led thinkers like Madame Blavatsky to look East for spiritual inspiration. Goodrick-Clarke further examines Modern esoteric thought in the light of new scientific and medical paradigms along with the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. This book traces the complete history of these movements and is the definitive account of Western esotericism.

Bringing together scholars from different disciplines and geographies, the Brill Handbook of Spiritualism and Channeling presents modern spirit possession in a variety of contexts. Weaving together the interrelated movements of Spiritualism along with its specific Franco and Latin American currents, articles explore the nineteenth-century beginnings of séances and trance mediumship. Channelling, an heir to Spiritualism begun in the 1970s and still flourishing today, is brought into direct conversation with its predecessors with a view to showing both continuity and disjuncture as the products of new cultural and religious needs. The Brill Handbook marks the first extensive collection on these two interrelated movements and examines themes such as gender, race, performance, and technology in each instance.