[65], The Spiritualists' view of evolution did not stop at death. Our daily newsletter contains a round-up of the stories published on our website, previews of exhibitions that are opening and more. Prominent investigators who exposed cases of fraud came from a variety of backgrounds, including professional researchers such as Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research and Harry Price of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, and professional conjurers such as John Nevil Maskelyne. Not Without My Ghosts opens with the visionary heads that came to William Blake in the middle of the night—including the Spirit of Voltaire and the Ghost of a Flea, and extends through Victorian Spiritualism via Surrealist automatism and 60s counterculture. CORRECTION BY STEVE BAUGHMAN. Swedenborg was formerly a highly regarded inventor and scientist, achieving several engineering innovations and studying physiology and anatomy. After the gathering of experience and growth through repeated reincarnations humanity will regain the original spiritual state, which is now one of self-conscious perfection. By 1880, there were about three dozen monthly Spiritualist periodicals published around the world. Underwood, Peter (1978) "Dictionary of the Supernatural", Harrap Ltd., (Alvarado, Biondi, and Kramer 2006: 61–63). [1] The afterlife, or the "spirit world", is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. [25], A number of scientists who investigated the phenomenon also became converts. After the 1920s, Spiritualism evolved in three different directions, all of which exist today. During the 1920s, professional magician Harry Houdini undertook a well-publicised campaign to expose fraudulent mediums; he was adamant that "Up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains. [8] In October 1899, a six article "Declaration of Principles" was adopted by the National Spiritualist Association (NSA) at a convention in Chicago, Illinois. After 1848, many socialists became ardent spiritualists or occultists.

Sit in front of each other and lightly move your hands over your partner’s body (to awaken their nerves). According to Spiritualists evolution occurred in the spirit world "at a rate more rapid and under conditions more favourable to growth" than encountered on earth. As female activists campaigned for equal rights and representation, Spiritualism frequently offered a parallel means to channel this collective energy.

Already as early as 1882, with the founding of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), parapsychologists emerged to investigate spiritualist claims. [2][3], Spiritualists often set March 31, 1848, as the beginning of their movement.