20 world religions and faith practices 201

Robyn Lebron

In the beginning, communication with the spirits presented by
means of human channeling was too slow and cumbersome, so a new one
was devised, supposedly from a suggestion by the spirits themselves—
the talking board. The energy channeled from the spirits through their
hands made the board spin around and find letters which, once written
down by a scribe, would form intelligible words, phrases, and
sentences. The system was an early, and less effective, precursor of the
—‹Œƒ boards that later became so popular.7
Allan Kardec first became interested in Spiritism when he learned
of the Fox sisters, but his first contact with w hat would become the
doctrine was by means of talking boards.
Experience had shown that the Spirit who acted upon an unanimated
body could in the same way control the arms or the hands and leads the
pencil. Writing mediums then appeared, that is, people who could write in an
involuntary manner under the impulse of the Spirits, being their interpreters
and instruments. Thenceforth the communications had no limits, and the
exchange of thoughts was as fast and easy as among the living.8
The phenomenon spread from the United States to the rest of
Europe, where for several years, it became a popular and even fashionable
form of entertainment for many curious observers.
Despite its popularity, however, Spiritism was not without its many
critics. Materialists, who believed only in the visible and tangible, and had
no belief in life after death, would not even consider the idea of invisible
Spirits and mocked those who did believe, calling them madmen. Some
critics admitted the physical effects but attributed them to the devil; which
had the effect of scaring some and exciting others. (The Roman Catholic
Church still maintains that people shouldn’t open the door to spirits as you
never know whom you will let in. They consider it very dangerous.)
“Foreseeing the vast importance, to science and to religion, of such

an extension of the field o f human observation, ( Kardec) entered at
once upon a careful investigation of the new phenomena. A friend of
his had two young, giggly daughters who had become what are now
called “mediums.”9 Whenever Kardec “was present, the messages
transmitted through these young ladies were of a very grave and serious
character; and on his inquiring of the invisible intelligences, he was
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