Spiritism in Cadiz, in 1853 and 1868.

We have said on various occasions that Spiritism counts numerous adherents in Spain, which proves that the restriction of ideas does not prevent them from manifesting themselves. For a long time already we knew that Cadiz was the seat of an important Spiritist center. One of the members of that society, having come to Paris last year, gave us detailed accounts of high interest concerning it, which he afterward recalled to us in his correspondence. Only the abundance of materials prevented us from publishing them sooner. The Spiritists of Cadiz claim for their city the honor of having been one of the first, if not the first in Europe, to possess a Spiritist gathering constituted, and receiving regular communications from the Spirits, by writing and by typtology, on subjects of morality and of philosophy. Indeed, this claim is justified by the publication, in 1854, of a book printed in the Spanish language. It contains at the outset an explanatory preface on the discovery of the talking tables and the manner of using them; then the account of answers to questions addressed to the Spirits in a series of sessions held since 1853. The procedure consisted of a small three-legged table and of an alphabet divided into three series, each corresponding to one of the legs of the little table. No doubt the answers are very elementary, compared to what is obtained today, and not all are of an irreproachable exactness, but for the most part they agree with the present teaching. We will cite only a few of them, to show that at a time when, moreover, almost everywhere, people occupied themselves with turning tables only as an object of amusement, in Cadiz they were already thinking of using the phenomenon for serious instructions. (November 8, 1853) – Is a Spirit present here? – Yes. – What is your name? – Eqe. – In what part of the world did you dwell? – In North America. – Were you man or woman? – Woman. – Tell us your name in English. – Akka. – How do you translate belo into English? – Fine. – Why did you come here? – To do good. – To yourself or to us? – To all. – Then can you give us that good? – I can; everything lies in work. – How shall we attain good? – By emancipating woman; everything depends on her. (November 11). The Spirit Eqe. – Is there another mode of communication with the Spirits? – Yes, by thought. – In what manner? – Read your own. – And how could we come to an understanding with the thought of the Spirits? – By concentration. – Is there a means of arriving at this easily? – Yes, happiness. – How is happiness obtained? – By loving one another.

(November 25). Anna Ruiz. – Where does our soul go upon separating from the body? – It does not leave the Earth. – Do you mean the body? – No, the soul. – Do you have the same enjoyments in the other life as in this one here? – The same and better: we work throughout the whole Universe.

(November 26). Odiuz. – Do the Spirits assume a form? – Yes. – Which? – The human form. There are two bodies: one material, the other of light. – Is the body of light the Spirit? – No; it is an aggregation of ether; light fluids form the body of light. – What is a Spirit? – A man in a state of essence. – What is its destiny? – To organize cosmic material movement; to cooperate with God for order and in the laws of the worlds in the Universe. (November 30). A Spirit spontaneously. Order distributes the harmonies. This law tells you that each globe of the solar system is inhabited by a humanity like yours; each member of that humanity is a complete being in the class it occupies; it possesses a head, a trunk, and limbs. Each one has its destination marked out, collective or terrestrial, visible or invisible. The Sun, like the planets and their satellites, has its inhabitants with a complex destiny. Each of the humanities that people these diverse globes has its double existence, visible and invisible, and a spiritual word appropriate to each of these states. (December 1). Odiuz. Read John and you will have the signification of the word verb. You will know what the verb of the solar humanity is; each humanity has its Providence, its man-God; the light of the solar man-God is the anthropomorphic Providence of all the globes of the solar system.

(December 8). – Is there an analogy between material light and spiritual light? – The Sun illuminates, the planets reflect its light. The solar intelligence illuminates the planetary intelligences and these those of their satellites. Intelligent light emanates from the brain of the solar humanity, which is the intelligent spark, as the Sun is the material spark of all the stars. There is also an analogy in the mode of expansion of intelligent light in each humanity that receives it from the principal focus in order to communicate it to its members. There is unity of system between the material world and the spiritual world.

We have Nature, which reflects the laws that preceded creation. Next comes the human Spirit, which analyzes Nature to discover these laws, to interpret them and to understand them. This analysis is to spiritual light what refraction is to physical light, for the whole of Humanity forms an intellectual prism, in which the single divine light is refracted in a thousand different ways.

(January 4, 1854). – Why do the Spirits not always come at our call? – Because they are very occupied. – Why have some Spirits who have presented themselves up to now answered by enigmas or absurdities? – Because they were ignorant and frivolous Spirits. – How to distinguish them from the serious Spirits? – By their answers. – Can the Spirits make themselves visible? – Sometimes. – In what case? – When it is a matter of humbling fanaticism. – Under what form did the Spirit present itself to the archbishop of Paris? – Human form. – What is the true religion? – To love one another. The following extract, from a letter of our correspondent, dated August 17, 1867, will give an idea of the spirit that presides over the present Spiritist Society of Cadiz:

“For eleven years we have been in communication with Spirits of the superior life and, in that space of time, they have made us important revelations on morality, the spiritual life, and other subjects of interest to progress.

“We gather five times a week. The presiding Spirit of our Society, to whom the other Spirits accord a certain supremacy, is named Pastoret. We have in Mme. J… an excellent seeing and speaking medium. She communicates by means of a small three-legged table, which serves her only to establish the fluidic current, and she sees the words written on a kind of fluidic ribbon, which passes incessantly before her eyes, and on it she reads as in a book. This means of communication, joined to the benevolence of the Spirits who come to our sessions, allows us to present our observations and to establish almost familiar discussions with these same Spirits. “Each evening the session is opened with the presence of the Spirit of doctor Gardoqui, whom we knew and who, in life, practiced Medicine in Cadiz. After giving counsel to our brothers present, he goes to visit the sick whom we recommend to him; he indicates the necessary remedies, and almost always with success.

“After the physician's visit comes the familiar Spirit of the circle, who brings us other Spirits, sometimes superior ones to instruct us, sometimes inferior ones, in order that we may assist them with our counsels and our encouragements. By indication of our guides, we carry out periodically missions of charity in favor of the poor.

“Besides ridicule, against which you others, Frenchmen, have to struggle as much as we, we struggle against intolerance. Yet we do not lose heart, because the force of conviction that God gives us is more powerful than the obstacles.

“We end each session with the following prayer:

“Universal Father! Almighty Lord! we address ourselves to you, because we recognize you as the one and eternal God. Father! we desire not to incur your censure, but, on the contrary, to advance our purification in order to draw near to you, sole true good, supreme happiness promised to those who return to you.

“Lord! we continually remind you of our sins, in order that you may forgive them to us, after the expiation that they merit. How much do we already owe to your immense goodness! Be merciful toward us.

“Eternal Father, you gave me life and, with life, intelligence to know you, a heart to love you and to love my fellow beings. My intelligence will grow when I think of you and when I raise myself to you.

“Universal Father of all beings, great architect of the Universe, holy water with which we quench the thirst of divine love, neither the course of time nor the difference of intelligences prevents us from recognizing you, for your great power and your great love are seen everywhere.

“Father! we entrust ourselves to your mercy and, as proof of our sincerity, we offer you our lives, our goods, all that you have given us. We possess nothing that does not come from you; we place everything at the disposal of our needy brothers, that they may profit from the fruit of our intelligence and of our labor.

“We are your children, Lord! and we solicit from your infinite goodness a ray of light to lead us in the way that you have shown us, until we reach the completion of our happiness.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our offenses as we forgive those who have offended us, now and always, even at the hour of our death.

“We address our prayers to you, infinitely good Father, for all our brothers who suffer on Earth and in space. Our thought is for them and our confidence is in you.”

May the Spiritists of Cadiz receive, through our intermediary, the sincere compliments of their brothers of all countries. The initiative they took, at the extremity of Europe and in a refractory land, without relations with the other centers, with no other guide than their own inspirations, when Spiritism, almost everywhere, was still in its infancy, is one more proof that the regenerating movement receives its impulse from higher than the Earth and that its focus is everywhere; that, thus, it is rash and presumptuous to hope to smother it by compressing it at one point, since, for lack of one outlet, there are a thousand others by which the light will be made. Of what use are barriers against that which comes from on high? Of what use is it to crush a few individuals, when there are millions scattered over the whole Earth, who receive the light and spread it? To wish to annihilate what is beyond the power of man, is this not to play the role of the giants who wished to scale heaven?