Spiritualist church
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A spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal spiritualist movement which began in the United States in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in Latin America, Central America, Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa, where a form of spiritualism called spiritism is more popular, meetings are held in spiritist centres, most of which are non-profit organizations rather than ecclesiastical bodies.
History
The origin of mediumship is usually linked to the seances conducted by the Fox sisters at Hydesville, Arcadia, New York, in 1848, but some believers date the unofficial beginning of modern American Spiritualism to the Shakers and similar religious groups. By 1853 the movement had reached San Francisco and London, and by 1860 was worldwide. The Fox family remained very active in Spiritualism for many years. Other notable Spiritualists of that era were Mercy Cadwallader, who became a sort of missionary for the movement, and Emma Hardinge Britten, who wrote for the first Spiritualist newspaper in Britain, The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph.[1][2]
Great Britain
By the 1870s there were numerous Spiritualist societies and churches throughout the US and Britain, but there was little in the way of national organization of mediums in Britain or the United States although some regions of Britain had organized Federations that might have up to thirty circles of similar beliefs. In 1891 the National Federation of Spiritualists (NFS) came into existence and grew quite large before its name change to the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) in 1902.
British spiritualists of this time were often adherents of the
By 1924 there were 309 Spiritualist churches affiliated to the SNU or one of the many other organisations. In 1932, a new magazine, Psychic News, joined Two Worlds on the newsstands of Britain and carried news of the doings in local Spiritualist churches.
From 1920 to 1938 there was the British College of Psychic Studies (1920 to 1947) led by Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie in London, but more successful was the
In 1957 Spiritualist churches in Britain divided between the Spiritualists' National Union, influenced by Arthur Findlay's beliefs and holding spiritualism to be a religion, and the circles of Christian Spiritualism, who hold Spiritualism to be a denomination of Christianity. Spiritualists National Union churches form the large majority and are affiliated to Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (SAGB), which is not a church per se, but rather an organization for mediums. The SNU also has some member churches in other English-speaking countries. Christian Spiritualist churches are mainly affiliated to The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association (GWCSA).
Other Spiritualist groups in the UK include
International
There are Spiritualist churches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The Republic of South Africa, Sweden and groups in many countries including Japan,[citation needed] the Scandinavian countries, Korea, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Iceland. Many such groups and also individuals, are members of the International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) which was founded in Belgium in 1923 and is an umbrella organization for all spiritualists. The ISF holds congresses every two years in different parts of the world.
In Australia, the Associated Christian Spiritual Churches of Australia (ACSCOA), International Council of Spiritualists (ICS), Church of United Spiritualism of Australia (USoA) and the Victorian Spiritualists' Union (VSU) co-exist alongside independent churches, and Canada has the Spiritualist Church of Canada (SCC) founded in 1974, along with a number of independent churches.
United States
American spiritualism has long been more individualistic than its British counterpart. Many North America Spiritualist churches are denominationally affiliated with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC), The National Spiritual Alliance (TNSA), or the United Spiritualist Church Association (USCA), but almost as many are independent churches with no national affiliation.
Spiritualist churches generally have, in addition to the church proper, an educational wing called a lyceum (the Greek word for "place of conversation"). These Spiritualist lyceums function as a support system for the teaching of Spiritualist history and doctrine outside of the liturgical services, and enable the booking of guest lecturers and visiting mediums.
A unique aspect of American Spiritualism, which sets it apart from British church tradition, was the nineteenth century development and institutionalization of Spiritualist Camps, organized by urban Spiritualist churches. These rural retreats, located in picturesque natural settings throughout the United States, allow Spiritualist families to spend their summer vacations boating, hiking, attending Spiritualist lectures, taking development classes in mediumship, and receiving messages from guest mediums. Among the best-known of the Spiritualist camps are Lily Dale Assembly in Lily Dale, New York, Camp Cassadaga in Cassadaga, Florida, On-I-Set-Wigwam Spiritualist Camp in Massachusetts, Camp Chesterfield in Indiana, Sunset Spiritualist Camp in Kansas, and Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp in Wisconsin.[3]
African American Spiritualist church
In 1922, during a time of rising
Most spiritual church movement churches incorporate theological Spiritualism, including the utilization of traditional "Spirit Guides" in worship services, with a mixture of Protestant and Catholic iconography. The names of individual churches in these diverse denominations tend to indicate the denominational Christian orientation of their founders or their congregations. Some, such as Divine Israel Spiritual Church (in New Orleans), recall typical Black
Styles of worship
Spiritualist churches are places of worship for the practitioners of Spiritualism. The Spiritualist service is usually conducted by a medium. Generally, there is an opening prayer, an address, the singing of hymns, and finally a demonstration of mediumship. Healing circles may also be part of the formal proceedings.
Liturgical and iconographic variations
Some Spiritualist churches maintain that Spiritualism is a religion in its own right, and has no relationship to any other religion.
Other Spiritualist churches draw inspiration from
A third group of Spiritualist churches propose the idea of the Universe as the creator, and does not necessarily follow any specific religious doctrine or dogma.
Mediumship within the churches
Spiritualists believe that when people die physically an aspect of the personality or mind survives this and continues to exist on a spirit plane, sometimes referred to as the spirit world. Spiritualists use the word Spirit as a plural which describes all minds and entities who have entered into the spirit world. The purpose of the medium is to provide some evidence that a human has survived by describing the person to their surviving relatives. The degree of accuracy with which the deceased are described goes some way to convincing the living relatives and friends that the medium has some contact with the spirit.[3][12]
Spiritualists describe this as "survival evidence'".
There have been a number of famous practitioners of spirit communication connected to Spiritualist churches. One of the principal advocates of Spiritualism was the 20th century British writer Arthur Findlay. Findlay was a magistrate, farmer and businessman who left his mansion house as place for the study and advancement of psychic science. This has now become a psychic college in Stansted, England and is run by the SNU.
Mediums develop their ability by sitting regularly in development circles with other student psychics.
Through engaging their intuition, they attempt to contact with the spirits of the dead. This is known as opening up. In Britain especially, such mediums are trained to produce clear evidence that the spirit contacted is the person they claim it to be before going on to give any "message" from the spirit. Such evidence can be details of where they lived, including addresses sometimes, particulars of illnesses suffered and notable events in their lives, often known only to the person in the congregation being given the information.[13]
Healing circles within the churches
Spiritualist healing, as practiced in some Spiritualist churches during formal liturgical services, is a form of mediumship which involves a technique of directing healing energy to the patient from a higher source. The healer uses his or her hands to effect repair of damaged or diseased tissue and it is claimed all or part of the patient's good health is sometimes restored.[14]
See also
- List of Spiritualist organizations
References
- ^ Carroll, Bret E. (1997). Spiritualism in Antebellum America. Indiana University Press.
- ^ Brandon, Ruth (1983). The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
- ^ a b Wicker, Christine (2003). Lily Dale: the True Story of the Town that talks to the Dead. Harper San Francisco.
- ^ Baer, Hans A. (1984). The Black Spiritual Movement: A Religious Response to Racism. University of Tennessee Press.
- ^ Universal Hagar's Spiritual Church
- ^ Pentecostal Spiritual Assemblies of Christ - International
- ^ Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ Archived 2008-08-04 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ ISBN 1-57233-148-8.
- ^ Dianteill, Erwan (2006), La Samaritaine noire - Les Eglises spirituelles Noires Américaines de La Nouvelle-Orléans, Paris, Editions de l'EHESS, pp. 85-115
- ^ Divine Harmony Spiritual Church
- ^ a b Jason Berry (1995). The Spirit of Blackhawk: a Mystery of Africans and Indians. University Press of Mississippi.
- ^ Weisberg, Barbara (2004). Talking to the Dead. Harper San Francisco.
- ^ Keeghan, D. R. T. Meditation Oneness: How to Link with Angels: The Medium's Bible. Arthur Findlay College.
- ^ Coats, Margaret, "Essential Guide to Using Hands-on Healing Energy", International Journal of Healing and Caring, Sterling publishing, New York, 2002.
External links
- Spiritualists National Union (UK based)
- Spiritualist Churches - United States, Sunset Spiritualist Church
- Spiritualist churches at Curlie
- Spiritualist Hymnal: a Revised Collection of Words and Music, [(harmonized)], for the Congregation, Second ed. Boston: R.D. Row Music Co.; Milwaukee, Wis.: exclusively for the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the United States of America, 1960. 216 p.