Allan Kardec: The Spirits’ Book

Audience

The Spirits’ Book was originally written for adherents of Spiritism as a reinterpretation of Spiritualist doctrines. However, followers of a host of syncretic movements have borrowed or adapted aspects of Kardec’s book. These movements have included Spiritualism, Theosophy, mediumship, and a host of groups loosely characterized as the New Age movement.

Spiritisim today is a decentralized faith-based movement, whose followers engage in regular meetings to read through Spiritist materials. Among Spiritist societies, the central practice is the interpretation of The Spirits’ Book and the rest of Spiritist codification. Thus, The Spirits’ Book remains a vital component of sustaining religious belief and practice within Spiritism.

As the Spiritism of Kardec’s codification was largely introspective, requiring individuals to assess their own spiritual identities, there were no public Spiritist authorities immediately following his death. A follower of Spiritism had only to read through The Spirits’ Book to derive answers to his or her questions, since Kardec had already interviewed particular experts through mediumship. Yet, despite the availability of an authoritative text, a number of individuals have contributed to the proliferation of Spiritism through a variety of different interpretations. Of note were two Brazilian mediums: Zélio Fernandino de Moraes (1891–1975) was instrumental in linking West African religions with Spiritism, and Francisco Cândido “Chico” Xavier (1910–2002) was a charismatic Spiritist who composed hundreds of texts on Spiritism by means of “psychography,” or automatic writing.