The Spiritualist Church and the Role of Mediums

In the 1840s a movement was born in America that would lead to the development of the Spiritualist Church. The Spiritualist movement, centered around mediumship, held that although everyone’s physical body dies, their soul lives on. Although many believe that the first actual mediums were the Fox sisters in 1848, most Spiritualism believers consider the beginnings of modern American Spiritualism to be rooted in the Shakers and other similar religious orders. By 1853, the Spiritualist movement had spread to San Francisco and eventually to London, and by 1860 there were Spiritualist churches around the world.

The entire Fox family in Hydesville, New York, was quite actively involved in Spiritualism for yeas. Other important Spiritualists were Emma Britten, author of many books about the place mediumship holds in American religious culture, and Mercy Cadwallader, a medium who was seen as a missionary for the Spiritualism movement. The first Spiritualist Church in Britain was established in 19853 by David Richmond in Yorkshire. Britain’s first Spiritualist newspaper, The Yorkshire Spiritualist Telegraph, was printed in 1855. By 1875 there were many Spiritualist churches and societies located throughout America and Great Britain.

British spiritualists in the early 1900s usually adhered to beliefs of temperance and often held radical political beliefs. They were against capital punishment and were often vegetarians. Some spiritualists were actively involved in women’s rights movements, and a few held to the idea of "free love" for everyone. The widely held perception of spiritualists was that they were Victorian radicals. The primary British magazine about spiritualism, Two Worlds, was widely circulated and advertised local spiritualism circles. Table turning became popular, and practices by trance mediums began to flourish. Even Buckingham Palace was rumored to have held trances led by a medium.

In 1899, many Spiritualist groups adopted a formal declaration of six Spiritualist principles that set down the basic faiths and beliefs of Spiritualism. Three additional principles were added later, for a total of nine. The principles say that Spiritualists believe in one Infinite Intelligence that is responsible for the expression of both physical and spiritual nature; true religion is based on a correct understanding of these expressions and living in accordance with them; the identity of a person continues beyond death; communication with the dead is a scientifically proven fact; the highest evidence of morality is belief in the Golden Rule; each person is responsible for making his own happiness or unhappiness by how he responds to the physical and spiritual laws of nature; reformation is always available to everyone; and a medium possesses the divine gifts of prophecy and healing.

In the 1950s, Spiritualist churches in Britain were separated into two groups with different ideas about how to classify the concept of spiritualism. The Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU) believed that spiritualism was its own separate religion, but the Christian Spiritualism movement believed it to be a denomination that is part of Christianity. The SNU gradually became the overseer of the majority of Spiritualist churches, as well as the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. Christian Spiritualist Churches are primarily affiliated with the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association.

One of the main advocates of the Spiritualist Church during the 20th century was Arthur Findlay, a British magistrate and businessman who specified in his will that his mansion should be dedicated to the advancement and study of the psychic sciences. The building is now a college in Stansted, England, and it is supervised by the SNU.

A medium usually conducts a Spiritualist church service. The service consists of an opening prayer, a congregational address, worship hymns, and then a demonstration by the medium, who engages their inner intuition to try to contact the spirits of the dead. This practice is termed "opening up." In Britain, mediums are usually trained to produce convincing evidence that the spirit they have contacted is indeed the person they say it is, before they continue to pass along any "message" that spirit has to offer. Evidence can be information such as the address where the person lived, information about illnesses the suffered or how they died, noteworthy events from their lives, or information that is known only to someone in the audience. This is described as "survival evidence," proving that the soul of the person has survived despite the death of the body.

One of the central practices of Spiritualism is meditation, which is used to quiet the many "voices" that are a regular part of daily life for most people. Meditation allows the practitioner to achieve inner quiet so that they can pay closer attention to their spiritual guide, their inner Witness. Meditation usually involves breathing techniques, and the Spiritualist also often uses religious beliefs and practices to help in attaining a higher understanding of their existence. Spiritualists may be inspired by traditions from other religions, usually Christianity, but also from other faiths well acquainted with mysticism, such as Hinduism, Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Sufism. Some Spiritualists hold to the idea of the universe itself being the creator, and they are not bound to any particular organized religion.