Year 14 Number 73 2006



April 15th, 2006


"Unshakable faith is only that which can face reason face to face in every Humankind epoch." 
Allan Kardec




"The unique personality which is the real life in me, I can not gain unless I search for the real life, the spiritual quality, in others. I am myself spiritually dead unless I reach out to the fine quality dormant in others. For it is only with the god enthroned in the innermost shrine of the other, that the god hidden in me, will consent to appear."

Felix Adler in "The Ethical Philosophy of Life"






 ° EDITORIAL


Spiritist Classic Published in English for the First Time




 ° ARTICLES


Materialism, Spiritualism, Spiritism, & New Spiritual Realities
Adam and Eve

 

 ° THE CODIFICATION


The Spirits' Book - Chapter XII: Moral Perfection - 2. The Passions

   

 ° ELECTRONIC BOOKS


Life and Destiny - PART 1st, CHAPTER IV: Personality


   

 ° SPIRIT MESSAGES

Remember God

   

 ° RECENTLY HELD EVENTS


New Era in the World Dissemination of Spiritism

 ° UPCOMING EVENTS


Spiritism and Spiritualism come Together Again


GEAE's Virtual Meetings

 
 
 ° EDITORIAL

Spiritist Classic Published in English for the First Time
 
Director Edgar Crespo of The Spiritist Society of Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A. has just published the Spiritist Classic from the original Spanish, Memoirs of Father Germain, copied and annotated by Spain's most famous Spiritist writer and poet, Amalia Domingo Soler. The GEAE website was the first to contain this book on it's website but, the published book is a second edition revised version, with added information regarding Ms. Soler's life and how the book was written with other explanatory notes by the translator.
 
The book is available on-line at http://www.iuniverse.com, http://www.amazon.com, and at other on-line book stores such as Barnes & Nobles. For those who do not have a computer, the book may be bought at Barnes & Nobles bookstore (if it is still not in, it can be ordered by them).

The book was given a 5 star rating on websites Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles.com by Michael Tymn, Book Review Editor, of The Academy of Spirituality and Paranormal Studies.
 
In the book, Father Germain (a 17th century French priest)  teaches love of the Creator and mankind with a belief that even the most hardened heart can be turned toward goodness. He exposes church hypocrisy and is persecuted by his superiors; yet he continues to teach according to his conscience. In addition, Father Germain himself, while on earth, was also a medium and a believer in reincarnation. Memoirs of Father Germain is the touching, true account of this beloved priest’s life and it is full of intrigue, adventure, human emotion, and morality... which will provide you with tremendous love, inspiration, and hope!

Much peace,
 
The GEAE Editors

Back to Content

 ° ARTICLES

Materialism, Spiritualism, Spiritism, & New Spiritual Realities

Yvonne Limoges

Article reproduced from the March 2006 Newsletter of  The Spiritist Society of Florida
   
Materialism is a belief that there is no other reality except the material and our personality is an effect of our brain and when our physical body dies there is nothing left of us at all. Materialists, therefore, do not believe in a spiritual afterlife. Spiritualism on the other hand, is generally a belief that there exists also a spiritual reality and that we have a soul or spirit that survives the material death of our body and enters into some kind of spiritual afterlife. The people who have a belief in most of the world’s religions are therefore spiritualists. Spiritualism one could say is the opposite of materialism.

But, the word Spiritualism is also used as the name of a specific organized religion. They have a clergy and meet in churches and temples. They believe in the evolution of the soul and in communication between the material and spiritual worlds through persons who have the faculty of mediumship.

French Educator, Professor Allan Kardec, coined the word Spiritism to describe the science of the study of,  “the relation of the material world with spirits” (especially through mediumship) and the moral philosophy that resulted from this study. Spiritists do not have clergy and practice in centers. Its most important tenet is belief in soul evolution through reincarnation.

Although Spiritualists have been somewhat divided regarding belief in reincarnation, Spiritists and Spiritualists have been communicating and working together. Vanessa Anseloni, founder of The Spiritist Society of Baltimore is teaching workshops at the National Spiritualist Association of Churches at Lily Dale, in 2005 on Spiritism, and again this July 2006 on reincarnation. A Spiritualist gave a lecture at her center as well. In addition, the International Spiritualist Federation (established in 1923 in England) in their October 2005 magazine Fraternally Yours published my article entitled, Time for Acceptance of Reincarnation Has Come. Website: www.isfederation.org

Yet, whether one calls oneself a Spiritist or a Spiritualist, and although our practices may be somewhat different, WE ALL believe in a solid base: existence of a Supreme Intelligence and in the faculty of mediumship, the existence of the soul, and, communication between the spirit and material worlds. All of us believe in the evolution of the soul (whether through reincarnation or not).

And when the spirit world was making themselves first known to the world in the 1840s through intelligent communications, many groups (religious, philosophical, scientific) formed to study these phenomena and many attended several world conferences together. Spiritualists and Spiritists from around the world attended at least two of these world conferences. The first one was in 1888 in Barcelona, Spain, and, the second one was in 1889 in Paris, France. Now in the present day, Spiritists and Spiritualists again are corresponding, sharing ideas, and visiting each other. I think this is wonderful!
   
More and more people are searching for new spiritual realities that make sense to their reason, and, that can console and sustain them. The ideas contained in Spiritism and Spiritualism, and other  groups with similar concepts (no matter what their name) – and assisted by those in the spirit world that want this planet to progress- will eventually spread, and provide humanity what it so desperately lacks… Spiritual Truths based in reality (instead of blind faith, dogma, & superstition)… And these ideas will eventually see the light of day for all!  We all are a part of this… so keep spreading the word!

I would like to say I dearly cherish all my  friends I have corresponded with over the years and have come to know in so many organizations!                  

Much Peace, Light, & Fraternal Love to you all!

Back to Content


Adam and Eve

Renato Costa 

Translated by Kênya Parsons

Is the story of Adam and Eve real?

Initially, let’s analyze the biblical Genesis, starting with Cain’s speech, after being reprehended by the Lord regarding the fratricide committed.

4, 14. ... and whoever finds me will kill me. 15. ... Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16. Cain ... lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17. Cain lay with his wife. She... gave birth to Enoc. Cain was then building a city...

For what reason would Cain fear to be killed far from Eden if, aside from himself, only Adam and Eve inhabited the Earth? The only possible explanation to support the hypothesis of Adam and Eve being the first couple is to suppose that they had other children and, for an unknown reason, these children had previously moved to distant regions where Cain was heading to. By the way, such hypothesis is used by brethren of other beliefs trying to justify literal interpretations of the Bible. In my point of view, the fact that the book Genesis does not mention Adam and Eve’s other children makes this argument weak. If those supposed children used to please God or, on the contrary, if they did not, the reason for them to move far from Eden had to be written in the biblical text, which is definitely not the case.

The lack of acknowledgment of Adam and Eve’s other children in the biblical text could be justified by the fact that they were brothers or sisters who begun other races, therefore, not important for the Jewish tradition. However, careful reading of the text contests this explanation. Even if the tradition had omitted the destiny of Adam and Eve’s other children, it would not put meaningless words into the Lord’s mouth.  When Cain showed concern of being killed by “whoever finds” him, proving not to know who he would find in his way, the Lord assured him that he would not be killed by any one “who found him”. Based on Cain’s speech and the Lord’s answer, it is obvious that Cain could find somebody who he was not acquainted with at the distant lands to where he was going. This discards the hypothesis that this unfamiliar person could be his brother or sister.

Aside from this argument, the text also brings interesting information which adds to the same interpretation. It says that Cain built a city to live with his wife and son. Well, if he was to live only with his wife and child, a house would suffice. If Cain built a city, it is because there would have been a lot of people living in that region and, being the most evolved among them, he became the leader who organized everyone in a civilized way.

The Adamic Race and the Advent of Civilization

In The Spirit’s Book, we learn:

50. Did the human race begin with one man only?

“No; he whom you call Adam was neither the first nor the only man who peopled the earth.”

51. Is it possible to know at what period Adam lived?

“About the period which you assign to him; that is to say, about 4000 years before Christ.”

In accordance with the teaching of the spirits, the perception of time in the spiritual world is different from ours, as incarnated beings. Current archaeological researches confirm that civilization flourished approximately at that time. Therefore, if we understand Adam and Eve as mythical characters, they can truthfully represent the arrival of the first civilizations in our planet. 
 
Item 38, Chapter XI of the book Genesis – The Miracles and the Predictions according to Spiritism deals with the Adamic race and it points to the same conclusion. There Allan Kardec says:

“38. –The Adamic race, according to the teaching of the spirits, is due to one of these great immigrations, where one of these great colonies of spirits came from another sphere, which has given birth to the race symbolized in the person of Adam, and for this reason named Adamic. When they arrived, the Earth had been peopled from time immemorial, as America had been when Europeans reached its shores.”

“The Adamic race, more advanced than those which had preceded it upon the Earth, is indeed the most intelligent. It is that race which has pushed all other races forward.  Genesis shows us it from its debut to be industrious, apt in all the arts and sciences, without having passed through an intellectual infancy…”

Hence, one can observe that Kardec interprets Adam as an allegory, which represents the arrival in our orb of a colony of spirits who came from a more evolved world.  They improved upon the construction of cities, the culture of land, the production of metals and the progress in arts and sciences, conquests that, in sum, define what we understand as Civilization.

Starting on item 43 of the same chapter of Genesis, Kardec deals with the “Doctrine of the Fallen Angels and the Loss of Paradise”

“...At the time then when a world has reached one of its transformation crises which mark the stages of its ascent in the hierarchy, changes of a marked character take place among its incarnated and disincarnated inhabitants, causing extensive emigrations and immigrations (no. 34 and 35). Those who, notwithstanding their intelligence and knowledge, have continued in evil their revolt against God and his laws would be henceforth obstacles in the path of further moral progress, a permanent source of trouble, disturbing the tranquility and well-being of the virtuous. For this reason are they sent forth into less advanced worlds – worlds in which they can utilize their intelligence and the results of their acquired knowledge in furthering the advancement of those among whom they are called to live, at the same time expiating in a series of laborious existences, by hard work, their past faults and their willful obstinacy.”

Kardec’s explanation is clear and it does not require further explanations.

Entrance to the Human Kingdom

Analyzing the Myth of the Lost Paradise, one can notice that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has an evident meaning. How would one know what is right or wrong without having a mature conscience? The message behind the myth should be interpreted.

Souls that were incarnate in hominid bodies in Eden lived in naiveness. By lacking a mature conscience, that is, being unable to distinguish right from wrong, they were not responsible for their acts, not being, therefore, submitted to expiations. When those souls proved the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that is, when their conscience became mature and they became Spirits, they were banished from the Eden of naiveness and became responsible for their acts, hence submitting themselves to the Law of Causality.

I understand this interpretation of the myth of Adam and Eve as consistent with the teaching that we can obtain from the Codification. After all, as I mentioned before, the information that we obtain from Genesis, item 38, is that the colony of spirits represented by the Adam myth would have been responsible for the advent of what we now call Civilization.

In Carlos Torres Pastorino´s A Sabedoria do Evangelho (The Wisdom of the Gospel), we find the confirmation of the interpretation presented in this study for what we make his words the closing remarks of this brief study about Adam and Eve. In his comments about the genealogy of Jesus, as per described in the Gospel according to Lucas, the scholar says:

“Let’s move on to Lucas. He gives us 76 generations from Adam to Heli. Let us remember that the word Adam (from the Hebrew ADAM) simply means the common noun MAN. It is not a proper noun.

Therefore, Lucas tells us that, as soon as the creature leaves the animal kingdom for the human kingdom, reaching the human phase (adamic), …”

Bibliography
  • Kardec, Allan. Genesis, The Miracles and the Predictions according to Spiritism. 1st Ed. Spiritist Alliance for Books, 2003.
  • _____, ____. The Spirit’s Book. 6o Ed. FEB, Rio de Janeiro, 1996.
  • Pastorino, Carlos Torres. A Sabedoria do Evangelho. Vol. I. Sabedoria, 1967.
  • The Holy Bible. New International Version®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.

(Articled originally published at the Revista Internacional de Espiritismo -Spiritism International Magazine - October 2004)

Back to Content


 ° THE CODIFICATION

THE SPIRITS' BOOK

CHAPTER XII

MORAL PERFECTlON

2. THE PASSIONS

907. As our passions have their roots in nature, are they evil in themselves?

"No; it is only their excess that is evil, for excess implies a perversion of the will. But the principle of all his passions has been given to man for his good, and they may all spur him on to the accomplishment of great things. It is only their abuse that does harm."

908. How can we define the limit at which the passions cease to be good or bad?

"The passions are like a horse that is useful when under control, but dangerous when it obtains the mastery. A passion becomes pernicious the moment when you cease to govern it, and when it causes an injury to yourselves or to others."

The passions are levers that increase man's powers tenfold, and aid him in the accomplishment of the designs of Providence but if, instead of ruling them, he allows himself to be ruled by them, he falls into every sort of excess, and the same force which, held well in hand, would have been useful to him, falls upon and crushes him.

All the passions have their source in a natural sentiment or a natural want. They are therefore not evil in themselves, since they constitute one of the providentially-appointed conditions of our existence. what is usually meant by "passion" is the exaggeration of a need or a sentiment.

But this exaggeration Is the excessive action of a motive-power, and not the power Itself; it is this excessive action which becomes an evil, and leads to evil consequences of every kind. Every passion that brings man nearer to the nature of the animals takes him further from the spiritual nature.

Every sentiment that raises man above the nature of the animals is evidence of the predominance of his spiritual nature over his animal nature and brings him nearer to perfection.


909. Would a man's own efforts always suffice to enable him to vanquish his evil tendencies?

"Yes, very slight ones are often all that is needed; it is the will that is wanting. Alas! how few of you make any serious efforts to vanquish those tendencies!"

910. Can a man obtain efficacious help from spirits in overcoming his passions?

"If he addresses a sincere prayer for such help to God and to his good Genius, good spirits will certainly come to his aid, for it is their mission to do so."

911. Is not the action of the passions sometimes so violent that the will is powerless to withstand them?

"There are many who say 'I will,' but whose willing is only on their lips, and who are not sorry that what they declare themselves to will does not take place. When a man is unable to vanquish his passions, it is because, through the backwardness of his spirit. he takes pleasure in yielding to them. He who controls his passions comprehends his spiritual nature; he knows that every victory over then is a triumph of his spirit over matter."

912. What is the most efficacious means of combating the Predominance of the corporeal nature?

"The practice of abnegation."
Back to Content

 ° ELECTRONIC BOOKS

LIFE AND DESTINY

BY

LEON DENIS

AUTHOR OF ‘APRÈS LA MORT,’ ‘JEANNE D’ARC-MÉDIUM’

‘CHRISTIANISME ET SPIRITISME,’ ‘DANS L’INVISIBLE’

‘LA GRANDE ÉNIGME,’ ‘POURQUOI LA VIE?’

‘L’AU-DELÀ ET LA SURVIVANCE DE L’ÉTRE’

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

LONDON GAY & HANCOCK LTD.

1919

This book is out of print indefinitely. 

1st Electronic Edition by 

the Spiritist Group of New York (SGNY)
and the Advanced Study Group of Spiritism (GEAE)
 
2002

PART FIRST

THE PROBLEM OF LIFE 


CHAPTER IV

 PERSONALITY

The conscience, the ME, is the center of the being, the foundation of the personality. To be a person is to have a conscience, a ME, which reflects, examines remembers. But can we analyze and describe the ME, its mysterious windings, its latent forces, its fertile germs, and its secret activities? The philosophies of the past have attempted it in vain. They have only skimmed the surface of conscious being; its internal and profound parts remained obscure and inaccessible up to the hour when hypnotism and spiritual phenomena projected therein some rays of light; and since then we have been enabled to see that in us is reflected the whole universe in its double immensity of space and time. We say space, for the soul, in its full, free manifestations, knows not distance. We say time, because all the past sleeps in the soul, and the future dwells there in an embryo state. The old schools admitted the verity and the continuity of the ME; the permanence and identity of the human personality and its survival. Their studies were based upon the sense which we today call introspection. 

The new experimental psychology considers the personality as an aggregation, a composite, a ‘colony’. The ME is regarded as a transient arrangement of cells without stability, which decompose eventually. These ideas are based on intellectual observations of alterations of personality, and the relation of maladies of memory to lesions of the brain, etc. 

How shall we conciliate these dissimilar theories and observe both? Scientifically, in a most simple fashion. By observation itself - vigorous, attentive. Frederick Myers has given the subject the most magnificent effort that has been attempted by the human mind, in his book The Survival of Human Personality. He says in this work (which is recommended to all readers of this volume), ‘After fourteen years of careful research, at the end of a long series of reflections based upon numberless proofs, I have come to the conclusion that the consciousness and the faculties of earth life assert themselves newly, in all their strength, after death.’

There are certain cases when there appears in us a being wholly different from our normal selves, possessing not only knowledge and aptitude more extensive than those of the ordinary personality, but besides, an endowment of more varied and more powerful perceptions. Often the observers of the phenomena of second personality believe they are in the presence of another individual. 

It is necessary for the student to make the distinction between these cases and the controls of spiritual entities. The proofs furnished by careful students of these different manifestations permit no confusion. The cases of G. Pelham, of Robert Hyslop, and Fourcade, furnished in the book In the Invisible, are among these proofs. Dr. Binet, in his Alterations of the Personality, as does Myers, Dr. James, Dr. Merton Prince, Dr. Bouru and Dr. Bruat, all men of scientific renown. All the examples given by them demonstrate one thing. Above all the level of the normal consciousness, outside of the ordinary personality, there exists in us planes of consciousness - zones or layers, placed in such a manner that under certain conditions one can prove the alterations between these planes. 

We see emerging to the surface, and manifesting themselves for a given time, attributes and faculties, which penetrate to a deeper consciousness: then they disappear, to plunge again into shadow and inaction. The ordinary superficial ME seems but a fragment of the ME total. 

In the one is registered a world of facts, information, of memories reaching to a long past of the soul. During the normal life all these reservoirs remain hidden, as if buried under a material envelope. They appear in the somnambulistic state. The call of the will, the suggestion, mobilizes them; they come into action and produce the strange phenomena that the physiologist observes, but has no power to explain. All the cases of double personality, all the phenomena of clairvoyance, telepathy, premonition, enter the scene of the new senses and unknown faculties. All the ensemble of innumerable facts, constantly increasing, should be attributed to the intervention of the hidden personality. The somnambulistic state, which permits these manifestations, should not be regarded as morbid, but rather a superior state, following the experience of Myers’ Evolution. It is true that organic degeneracy and weakness sometimes serves to facilitate the somnambulistic state. In a general way, it might be stated that all that reduces the physical vigor assists in allowing the spirit to free itself. The clear vision often found in the dying gives testimony to this fact. 

But those who are regarded lightly by the materialistic psychologies as ‘degenerates’ are often the ‘progenitors’ instead. The highly nervous being is sometimes in a process of evolution toward a more intense state of planetary life. Morbidness sometimes is transformed into moral force. Myers speaks of the inspiration of genius ‘as the emergence into the domain of consciousness of ideas formed quite independently of the will in the profound regions of the being.’ Consequently, it is a most grievous theory of materialists who say that the ‘official school’ has arrived at the conclusion that genius is a species of nervous disorder. There is in us a reservoir of the subterranean waters, which sparkle and leap to the surface at times in a rapid bubbling current. The prophets, the martyrs of all religions, the inspired, the enthusiastic of all schools, have known these secret and powerful impulsions. They have procured for us the grandest works, which have revealed to man the existence of a superior world.


Next: CHAPTER VTHE SOUL AND DIFFERENT STATES OF SLEEP


Back to Content

 ° SPIRIT MESSAGES

Remember God!

(Spirit communication received by Yvonne Limoges)

Yes, it is I, my child, Joan of Arc. I have come to admonish those who forget their Lord, Our God!

Our Creator is Omnipotent, All Justice, and All Love; nothing happens unless His Will be done. Yet there is little acknowledgement among many, of this Divine Power and Solicitude.

How shameful! Lowly humans, who have so much to grow morally and spiritually, they think they accomplish all good things on their own! How foolish and egotistical!

Much needs to be learned…the first is humility, to thank the Great Creator for your many blessings that you have been permitted to obtain.

Love God and be blessed!

Remember, “Love God above all else, and others as yourselves.” How mankind has forgotten the first part of that sublime but simple statement.

“ Joan of Arc”

Back to Content



 ° RECENTLY HELD EVENTS

New Era in the World Dissemination of Spiritism

 
by Vanessa Anseloni and Daniel Santos

 
"Tonight a new era in the world dissemination of Spiritism begins,” said the renowned Spiritist medium and speaker Divaldo P. Franco after the historic event organized by the Spiritist Society of Baltimore, Inc. In the evening of
March 16, 2006, the acclaimed researcher, psychiatrist and philosopher Dr. Raymond Moody Jr. shared the stage with Divaldo P. Franco in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The theme of the event was From Grief to Hope in which Dr. Raymond Moody talked about his book Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones, while Divaldo Franco spoke about The Spiritist Therapy for Those Who Stayed.

The Spiritist Society of Baltimore (SSB) organized and sponsored this event with the goal of bringing the consoling promise of Spiritism to the American public who has undergone challenging times on losing loved ones either through natural calamities or the ones created by Human Beings, the wars. To reach this goal, the SSB established for the first time a bridge between Spiritism and Academia on American soil.

Dr. Raymond Moody began his lecture highlighting the importance of critical thinking when thinking about the great questions of life. Based on the History of Ancient Greece and mainly the Oracle of the Dead, Dr. Moody said that he reproduced a technique to contact the dead found in Greek mythology by building up a room of mirrors in his institute.

In his studies with the technique of the mirrors, he proposed a new methodology to investigate the phenomenon of communication with the dead. Dr. Moody said that he was taken by surprise when he verified that the majority of individuals in his studies reported that they had some type of real experience in communicating with their departed loved ones. Dr. Moody also told about his personal experience with his deceased paternal grandmother.

He observed that his experiments also had extraordinary and diverse results. He said, “In half or so of my work, people say they had a three-dimensional image in full color of the person that they set out to see. But there are plenty of things that I did not expect. The other people report that they feel that their consciousness goes through the mirror and they come out onto the other side into a sort of panoramic, three-dimensional realm where they meet the spirits. Some people tell you that the apparition forms in the mirror then steps forward and comes out of the mirror. Thirty percent of the people tell us that they hear the audible voice of the deceased with auditory quality to it. The others who did not go through these experiences report that they had a heart to heart or mind to mind communion with the person that they saw. Another strange fact related to this, a quarter of those individuals see some other individual known to them who died rather than, or in addition to, the person that they set out to see.

Despite his 30 years of research on life after death, Dr. Moody stated that he does not think that his research is a definite scientific proof of the existence of life after death. The climax of his talk was reached when he confirmed the need for new scientific methodology to investigate these profound questions of life. He concluded his lecture in a very optimistic way as he stated that he believes that “(…) in the XXI century, we will witness genuine scientific advances towards proving the essential questions of Humanity, among them the continuity of life after death.”

After that, the bright medium and speaker Divaldo Pereira Franco, assisted by the excellent interpreter, Daniel Benjamin (member of the Board of Directors of the Allan Kardec Educational Society), gave a speech on Humankind’s ideas on life after life since Ancient times, the Prehistoric Rock Art drawings. After brief historical remarks on the Human universal belief that life continues after death, Divaldo Franco brought the Spiritist Therapy for those who suffer from the loss of their loved ones by death:

  1. Tell your loved ones that you love them while you are together with them. It will not be too much to say that your loved one is important for you. (...)
  2. Think of your death, not your neighbor’s death. Because your neighbor is thinking of yours. (...)
  3. Solve your relationship problems before death comes. (...)
  4. When someone dies, do not lament. Be grateful for the time you lived with that person. Remember the happy moments you spent together. They will receive your mental message and will get closer to you. Make inner silence and you will be able to hear them in an intracranial voice. Gradually, you will be able to hear them directly. (...)
  5. Pray for them. Pray to God for them. And be certain that when your time comes, they will be there to receive you. (...)

 The Spiritist Therapy for the pain of separation is of hope”, said Mr. Franco who proceeded with great joviality, charisma and universal language, telling about cases of people who were skeptical and after communicating with their loved ones, through mediumship, had gotten the consolation and the certainty that life continues after physical death. One of the culminating points of his lecture was when he narrated a true case of a young man who was shot by his friend and died, while they were playing ‘Russian roulette.’ Through the mediumistic writing of the beloved Francisco Cândido Xavier (one of the greatest Brazilian Mediums) the ‘dead’ wrote a letter as a witness affirming that the defendant was not guilty of his death. Such testimonial was accepted by the Judge of the House Court and set the defendant free.

Approximately 70% of the 200 people in the audience were composed of Americans. The public was enchanted with the wise approach that Divaldo Franco used as well as by his eloquent and consoling Spiritist message. Dr. Raymond Moody Jr. also had his prestige confirmed, and at the end he expressed his admiration for the works that the Spiritist Society of Baltimore (SSB) has been leading on American soil. After the event, the SSB received a great number of positive feedbacks from the American public. Some of these testimonials have just been published at the SSB’s Newsletter, SpiritistNews, March/April 2006 issue (www.ssbaltimore.org).  

The unforgettable night was crowned with success also by the launching of new releases: two books (I love myself, I am addiction free; and Happy Life) and three CDs (Living and Loving; I love myself, I am addiction free; and Therapeutic Visualization: Inner Journey), all published in English. These materials were produced in collaboration between the Spiritist Society of Baltimore and Divaldo Franco/Mansão do Caminho (Mansion of the Way).

Certainly, this event of great expression was a historical mark for the beginning of a new era in the world dissemination of Spiritism, in which the dialogue between the Spiritist Science and Material Science was expanded.

 
Translated by Vanessa Anseloni and Daniel Santos; Revised by Lisa Pellegrino

 

[1] Vanessa Anseloni is the president-founder of the Spiritist Society of Baltimore, Inc. She is a fifth generation Spiritist and one of the pioneers on the Spiritist talks and workshops in the English speaking language in the Spiritist movement in the USA. Vanessa Anseloni is a neuroscientist and psychologist, currently a researcher and professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, USA.

[2] Daniel Santos is one of the founders of the Spiritist Society of Baltimore, Inc and also its Director of Communications. He is the main responsible person for the SSB website, the Webcasting Spiritism, and one of the first Spiritist newsletters, SpiritistNews, in the USA. Daniel Santos is a neuroscientist and a pharmacologist, currently a researcher at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, USA.


 ° UPCOMING EVENTS

Spiritism and Spiritualism come Together Again

This July, Spiritism and Spiritualism finally come together again. Join us in this historical event on July 21 and 2*. Divaldo Franco, Maria Gertrudes and Vanessa Anseloni are giving presentations on Spiritism at the mecca of American Spiritualism at Lily Dale. This event is all organized by the Lily Dale Assembly.

Friday, July 21, 2006 - 1-4pm
REINCARNATION & ITS HEALING FEATURES

Location: Lily Dale Assembly Hall
Presented by: Vanessa Anseloni
 
Friday, July 21, 2006 - 7-10pm
PAINTING WITH THE SPIRITS

Location: Lily Dale Assembly Hall
Presented by: Maria Gertrudes

Saturday, July 22, 2006 - 9:00am - 1:00pm
PSYCHIC AND MEDIUMISTIC PHENOMENA

Location: Lily Dale Auditorium
Presented by: Divaldo Franco

For registration online and more information, go to http://www.lilydaleassembly.com/

 Back to Content

GEAE's Virtual Meetings


           
Join the members of the GEAE-Advanced Study Group of Spiritism to study the Spiritist Doctrine in a monthly virtual meeting at PalTalk, which takes place every second Sunday of each month from 5:00 to 6:30 PM (USA Standard Eastern Time).

            Our goal in this study is a simple one, where everyone is seen as a student aiming to promote a friendly and salutary interaction of fraternal and mutual help, which will enable each and every one of the participants to boost their level of knowledge and spiritual awareness.

          Although we select the topic of study at each meeting, we are open to questions, comments and input of a broader perspective and all the participants are allowed to take part in in the discussions taking place at the meetings. The meetings have already been ongoing for a year and it has been a great and fulfilling experience to all of us.

          The group - GEAE-Spiritism to the World - can be found at Paltalk, inside the category Religious. You may join with a simple double click, on the hours and dates above, and the operational process that allows you to actively participate in the studies is very easy and self-explanatory.

          We also invite you to keep checking Paltalk, for we may open the group occasionally at no scheduled dates and times in order to handle informal conversation with those interested in learning about Spiritism in general. If you do so and find the group active, just come in and feel free to talk to us and tell us about your experiences and place your questions that we will be glad to answer them according to the view of the Spiritist Doctrine.

GEAE - Advanced Study Group of Spiritism
Editorial Council

 Back to Content



GRUPO DE ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS ESPÍRITAS

ADVANCED STUDY GROUP OF SPIRITISM

Electronic weekly report in Portuguese - Boletim do GEAE

Monthly English report: "The Spiritist Messenger"


The Spiritist Messenger is sent by email to GEAE subscribers

(Free) subscriptions http://www.geae.inf.br/
Send your comments to editor-en@geae.inf.br

To cancel the subscription send an e-mail to editor-en@geae.inf.br
or to inscricao-en@geae.inf.br with the subject "unsubscribe"

Editorial Council - editor-en@geae.inf.br

Collection in Portuguese (Boletim do GEAE)

Collection in English (The Spiritist Messenger

Collection in Spanish (El Mensajero Espírita)