What is Spiritualism?
It is a religion and a philosophy. The religion origins lies in African American communities, whilst the philosophy is a concept that there is an immaterial reality that cannot be perceived by the human senses.
However, the most well known iteration of spirituality (the religion one follows) is that which began in the 19th century, and had a significant resurgence during the Great War. At its core, the religion believes that a persons consciousness and identity exists beyond death and may be contacted by the living
19th Century Spiritualism
- Mainly took place in Victorian USA USA and UK
- Was largely an unorganised movement relying on individual mediums and independent newspapers, but often had informal forms of leadership
- Was particularly impactful in reformist movements and abolition of slavery in USA
- became a wide-reaching ideology due to extreme amounts of death caused by urbanisation in the western world
- Coincided with the Victorian ghost story trend as religious perspectives started to become less rigid
- In mainstream media was either labelled ungodly, a trivial ghost story or symptoms of hysteria, partly because of fraud mediums due to spiritualisms rise in popularity
20th Century Spiritualism
- Mainly took place in the UK and European nations affected by war
- Became more organised with notable scientific figures and literary icons practicing the religion for a time
- the society of psychical researchers popularised spirituality as a bridge between science and Christianity
- Was particularly impactful in consoling the mass grief experienced by the unprecedented casualty of war
- Séances and mediums became more clientele based and a private affair over public, less concerned with an authority or hierarchy
- Mainstream media denounced its authenticity seeing it as unscientific, however believers were met with more sympathy seeing it as a form of managing grief