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76-584: The origin of mediumship is usually linked to the seances conducted by the Fox sisters at Hydesville, Arcadia, New York , in 1848, but some believers date the beginning of modern American spiritualism to the Shakers and similar religious groups. By 1853 the movement had reached San Francisco and London, and by 1860 was worldwide. The Fox family remained very active in spiritualism for many years. Other spiritualists of that era were Mercy Cadwallader, who became an advocate for

152-495: A demonstration of mediumship. Healing circles may also be part of the formal proceedings. Some spiritualist churches maintain that spiritualism is a religion in its own right, and has no relationship to any other religion. Other spiritualist churches draw inspiration from Christianity . African American spiritualist churches tend to encourage ecstatic worship styles derived from African-American Protestant Baptist and Pentecostal practices. The churches that directly descend from

228-622: A hoax and publicly demonstrated their method. Despite their confession, the Spiritualism movement continued to grow in popularity. In 1848, the two younger sisters – Catherine and Margaretta – lived with their parents John and Margaret, who were Methodists, in Hydesville, New York, a former hamlet that was part of the township of Arcadia in Wayne County, New York , just outside Newark . The girls had been born and raised "in or near Consecon,

304-732: A letter to the NSAC offering them the property to be utilized "for educational purposes." On November 2, 1901, he filed a petition for incorporation which resulted in the Morris Pratt Institute becoming a corporation managed by nine trustees, two of which were to be members of the National Spiritualist Association and one was to be the President of the Wisconsin State Spiritualist Association. Moses Hull

380-523: A minority espoused Free Love. The popular perception of spiritualists was often of radicals in the Victorian period. Two Worlds was the major British magazine of spiritualism and had a fairly large circulation, and it advertised the existence of local circles. D.D. Home one of the most renowned mediums of his era, did much to make spiritualism fashionable among the aristocracy by his high-profile activities. Trance mediumship flourished and table-turning

456-570: A position of the NSAC but further investigation is warranted. In practical terms, this means that reincarnation is not maintained as fact from the podium, but it can be addressed in unofficial gatherings. "Are Spiritualists also Christians?" was debated by the NSAC and generally decided in the negative. While the NSAC has drawn heavily on the Christian faith, from which most members came, it identifies its members as Spiritualists. The specifically " Christian Spiritualists " were found in other bodies such as

532-470: A practical joke. A few years later, a "peddler tin box" was claimed to have been found in the cellar along with the remains, although there is no mention of the box in earlier accounts of the finding. The remains and the tin box are now in the Lily Dale Museum. Skeptical researcher Joe Nickell concluded after researching the box that at least part of the bones were those of animals, a continuation of

608-529: A quarrel with their sister Leah and other leading Spiritualists, who were concerned that Kate was drinking too much to care for her children. At the same time, Margaretta, contemplating a return to the Roman Catholic faith, became convinced that her powers were diabolical. Kate died at her home, at 609 Columbus Avenue in New York City, on July 3, 1892. Less than a year later, Margaretta, deep in alcoholism,

684-467: A support system for the teaching of spiritualist history and doctrine outside of the liturgical services, and enable the booking of guest lecturers and visiting mediums. A unique aspect of American spiritualism, which sets it apart from British church tradition, was the nineteenth century development and institutionalization of spiritualist camps, organized by urban spiritualist churches. These rural retreats, located in picturesque natural settings throughout

760-601: A time of rising Jim Crow laws and segregationism , the NSAC expelled its African American members. The Black spiritualists then formed a national organization called the Colored Spiritualist Association of Churches (CSAC), which included churches in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. The CSAC eventually fractured over leadership and doctrinal issues, and the historically African American spiritualist churches, since loosely referred to as

836-540: A tiny village in Prince Edward County, Ontario where their father owned a farm. The family moved to Hydesville, New York in 1847. The house was reputed to be haunted , yet is reported to have been a prank. (The sisters claimed in 1888 that they made the sounds by cracking their knuckles and other joints as well as other means. By that time, 40 years later, the sisters were famous mediums. ) Margaretta Fox, in her later years noted that neighbors were sure that

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912-507: Is a difficult thing to locate their source. Eager to harm Leah as much as possible, the two sisters traveled to New York City, where a reporter offered $ 1,500 if they would "expose" their methods and give him an exclusive on the story. Margaretta appeared publicly at the New York Academy of Music on October 21, 1888, with Kate present. Before an audience of 2,000, Margaret demonstrated how she could produce—at will—raps audible throughout

988-407: Is done. The rapping is simply the result of perfect control of the muscles of the leg below the knee, which govern the tendons of the foot and allow the action of the toe and ankle bones that are not commonly known. Such perfect control is only possible when the child is taken at an early age and carefully and continually taught to practice the muscles, which grow stiffer in later years. ... This, then,

1064-544: Is located on the grounds of the NSAC-chartered Lily Dale Assembly, the world's largest Spiritualist camp. The CSS is incorporated as a religious seminary by the New York State Board of Regents . The goal of the curriculum is the training of Spiritualist Clergy , Teachers, Mediums and Healers . The Fox Property Project started in 1998 when the property was acquired by the NSAC and a memorial park

1140-680: Is sometimes restored. Fox sisters The Fox sisters were three sisters from Rochester, New York who played an important role in the creation of Spiritualism : Leah (April 8, 1813 – November 1, 1890), Margaretta (also called Maggie), (October 7, 1833 – March 8, 1893) and Catherine Fox (also called Kate) (March 27, 1837 – July 2, 1892). The two younger sisters used "rappings" to convince their older sister and others that they were communicating with spirits. Their older sister then took charge of them and managed their careers for some time. They all enjoyed success as mediums for many years. In 1888, Margaretta confessed that their rappings had been

1216-471: Is the simple explanation of the whole method of the knocks and raps. Margaretta wrote of the reception of the rapping sounds: A great many people when they hear the rapping imagine at once that the spirits are touching them. It is a very common delusion. Some very wealthy people came to see me some years ago when I lived in Forty-second Street and I did some rappings for them. I made the spirit rap on

1292-628: The National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC), The National Spiritual Alliance (TNSA), or the United Spiritualist Church Association (USCA), but almost as many are independent churches with no national affiliation. Spiritualist churches generally have, in addition to the church proper, an educational wing called a lyceum (the Greek word for "place of conversation"). These spiritualist lyceums function as

1368-470: The Seybert Commission in 1887 stated that after investigating various mediums including Margaretta; the phenomena could have easily been produced by fraudulent methods. The report noted that the raps were heard close to Margaretta and a séance sitter, Professor Furness had felt pulsations in her foot. Kate was examined by William Crookes , the prominent physicist, between 1871 and 1874, who concluded

1444-591: The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (SAGB), which is not a church per se, but an organization for mediums. The SNU also has some member churches in other English-speaking countries. Christian Spiritualist churches are mainly affiliated with The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association (GWCSA). Other spiritualist groups in the UK include the White Eagle Lodge , founded by the medium Grace Cooke,

1520-676: The Wisconsin -born Mother Leafy Anderson in the early twentieth century. Their theology was grounded on a very original Black feminism, and particularly on the Gospel of John:4 (the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman). Most spiritual church movement churches incorporate theological spiritualism, including the utilization of traditional "Spirit Guides" in worship services, with a mixture of protestant and Catholic iconography. The names of individual churches in these diverse denominations tend to indicate

1596-599: The denominational Christian orientation of their founders or their congregations. Some, such as Divine Israel Spiritual Church (in New Orleans), recall typical Black Baptist churches, others, like Divine Harmony Spiritual Church (in Knoxville, Tennessee ), have names evocative of the early twentieth century New Thought movement, and some, such as Infant of Prague Spiritual Church (in New Orleans), feature Catholic names and include statuary of Catholic saints on their altars. Unlike

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1672-507: The spiritual church movement , includes a variety of denominations such as the African Cultural Nationalist Universal Hagar's Spiritual Church and the protestant -Christian-oriented Pentecostal Spiritual Assemblies of Christ - International and Metropolitan Spiritual Churches of Christ . The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans are a diverse group of denominations that have separated from the denomination founded by

1748-432: The "voices" of modern, hectic life so that the practitioner can better hear his or her guide. Meditation often includes the breathing practices of Buddhist meditation ( ānāpānasati ) and may also include the idea of chakras . The spiritualist may also focus on the tenets of their chosen religion to help them attain a higher existence. These may include standard prayers ( Hail Mary , Shema Yisrael or salat etc.) focusing on

1824-408: The 160th anniversary of the advent of Modern Spiritualism (in 2008). The National Spiritualist Summit (TNS) is the official publication of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches. It has been continuously published each month since 1919. The Spotlight is a magazine, published 10 times a year, for Children of all ages produced by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches and maintains

1900-715: The Associated Christian Spiritual Churches of Australia (ACSCOA), International Council of Spiritualists (ICS), Church of United Spiritualism of Australia (USoA) and the Victorian Spiritualists' Union (VSU) co-exist alongside independent churches, and Canada has the Spiritualist Church of Canada (SCC) founded in 1974, along with independent churches. American spiritualism has long been more individualistic than its British counterpart. Many North American spiritualist churches are affiliated with

1976-454: The Fox family, invited the girls into their Rochester home. Immediately convinced of the genuineness of the phenomena, they helped to spread the word among their radical Quaker friends, who became the early core of Spiritualists. In this way appeared the association between Spiritualism and radical political causes, such as abolition , temperance , and equal rights for women . On 14 November 1849,

2052-688: The Fox sisters demonstrated their spiritualist rapping at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester. This was the first demonstration of spiritualism held before a paying public and inaugurated a long history of public events featured by spiritualist mediums and leaders in the United States and in other countries. Kate and Margaretta became famous mediums and they held séances for hundreds of people. Many of these early séances were entirely frivolous, where sitters sought insight into "the state of railway stocks or

2128-413: The Fox sisters leave out their confession of fraud and present the rappings as genuine manifestations of the spirit world." C. E. M. Hansel notes in 1989 that "remarkably, the Fox sisters are still discussed in the parapsychological literature without mention of their trickery." When we went to bed at night we used to tie an apple to a string and move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on

2204-603: The Institute of Spiritualist Mediums and the Noah's Ark Society (the NAS) whose focus was physical mediumship and the support and development of physical mediums. (The NAS was dissolved c.  2005 /2006 by its founder, the late George Cranley.) There are spiritualist churches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The Republic of South Africa, Sweden and groups in many countries including Japan,

2280-517: The NSA's first leaders were W. H. Bach, Harrison D. Barrett (former Unitarian clergymen ), Luther V. Moulton, James Martin Peebles , and Cora L. V. Scott ( spiritualist medium ). The association is also important for its adoption of a number of statements on spiritualism which have become a standard to which other Spiritualist bodies more or less adhere. In 1899, a six-article "Declaration of Principles"

2356-466: The NSAC Spiritualist churches, the denominations of the spiritual church movement generally do not maintain spiritualist camps or a lyceum system of extra-liturgical education. Spiritualist churches are places of worship for the practitioners of spiritualism. The spiritualist service is usually conducted by a medium. Generally, there is an opening prayer, an address, the singing of hymns, and finally

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2432-492: The NSAC. These were adopted in October 1914, 1919, 1930, 1950 during the organization's annual convention. Reincarnation, gaining popularity through theosophy , began to find favor among some mediums in the early twentieth century, but was specifically condemned by the NSAC in 1930. The concept of reincarnation has been more recently revisited, and the current policy (2008) is that it is not sufficiently established to include it as

2508-545: The National Federation of Spiritualists (NFS) came into existence and grew quite large before its name change to the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) in 1902. British spiritualists of this time were often adherents of the temperance and anti-capital punishment lobbies, often held radical political views and were frequently vegetarians . Some were active in the advocacy of women's rights and female suffrage , and

2584-620: The Progressive Spiritualist Church and the Spiritual Church Movement . Some Spiritualists differentiate between primitive Christianity, which they believe themselves to be following and practicing, and contemporary orthodox Christianity, which they strictly differentiate from both primitive Christianity and Spiritualism. The polity of the association is hierarchical. There are loosely organized state associations and an annual national convention. Among Spiritualists,

2660-588: The Scandinavian countries, Korea, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Iceland. Many such groups and also individuals, are members of the International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) which was founded in Belgium in 1923 and is an umbrella organization for all spiritualists. The ISF holds biennial congresses in different parts of the world. In Australia,

2736-465: The United States of America (NSA) in September 1893, during a three-day convention in Chicago, Illinois. Although American Spiritualists had previously tended to resist institutional or denominational organization, early NSA leaders hoped organization would help promote the truths of the religion both spiritually and practically. Organization could help non-Spiritualists distinguish genuine mediumship from

2812-842: The United States, allow spiritualist families to spend their summer vacations boating, hiking, attending spiritualist lectures, taking development classes in mediumship, and receiving messages from guest mediums. Among the best-known of the spiritualist camps are Lily Dale Assembly in Lily Dale, New York , Camp Cassadaga in Cassadaga, Florida , On-I-Set-Wigwam Spiritualist Camp in Massachusetts, Camp Chesterfield in Indiana, Sunset Spiritualist Camp in Kansas, and Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp in Wisconsin. In 1922, during

2888-537: The ages of the girls. "It" did. The neighbors were called in. Over the course of the next few days a code was developed where raps could signify yes or no in response to a question or be used to indicate a letter of the alphabet. The girls addressed the spirit as "Mr. Splitfoot" which is a nickname for the Devil. Later, the alleged "entity" creating the sounds claimed to be the spirit of a peddler named Charles B. Rosna, who had been murdered five years earlier and buried in

2964-443: The association has the highest standards for ordination . The NSAC is noteworthy as the only Spiritualist body to attempt to develop work among youth. The lyceum was originally promoted and shaped by Andrew Jackson Davis in 1863. Children's materials have been developed and many churches have an active lyceum (Sunday school) program. Such efforts have given the NSAC a stability lacking in most Spiritualist bodies. Membership: In 2002

3040-633: The association reported 144 member congregations. There are ten state associations and 11 camps. There were also four affiliated congregations of the National Spiritualist Churches of Canada in Ontario and Quebec. The NSAC has two educational auxiliaries, the Morris Pratt Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and The Center for Spiritualist Studies (CSS) in Lily Dale, New York. Morris Pratt Institute

3116-498: The attention or paying clientele of the sisters' earlier careers. In 1904, remains were found in the cellar when a false wall fell down. The Boston Journal published a story about the discovery, claiming that it was the body of the supposed peddler, on November 22, 1904. However, the police at the time didn't open an investigation, as a physician who examined the bones found that it consisted of random bits of bones, including chicken bones, and concluded they had been placed there as

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3192-467: The cellar. In his writings on the Fox sisters, Arthur Conan Doyle claimed the neighbors dug up the cellar and found a few pieces of bone. No missing person named Charles B. Rosna was ever identified. They [the neighbors] were convinced that someone had been murdered in the house. They asked the spirits through us about it and we would rap one for the spirit answer 'yes,' not three as we did afterward. The murder, they concluded, must have been committed in

3268-417: The chair and one of the ladies cried out: 'I feel the spirit tapping me on the shoulder.' Of course, that was pure imagination. National Spiritualist Association of Churches The National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) is one of the oldest and largest of the national Spiritualist church organizations in the United States. The NSAC was formed as the National Spiritualist Association of

3344-403: The dead. This is known as opening up . In Britain especially, such mediums are trained to produce clear evidence that the spirit contacted is the person they claim them to be before going on to give any "message" from the spirit. Such evidence can be details of where they lived, including addresses sometimes, particulars of illnesses suffered and notable events in their lives, often known only to

3420-412: The deceased are described goes some way to convincing the living relatives and friends that the medium has some contact with the spirit. Spiritualists describe this as "survival evidence'". There have been a number of famous practitioners of spirit communication connected to spiritualist churches. One of the principal advocates of spiritualism was the 20th century British writer Arthur Findlay . Findlay

3496-472: The direction of their sister Leah, and he sought to break Margaretta from the group. Kane married Margaretta nonetheless, and she converted to the Roman Catholic faith. When Kane died in 1857, she returned to her activities as a medium. Kate had traveled to England in 1871, the trip paid for by a wealthy New York banker, so she would not be compelled to accept payment for her services as a medium. The trip

3572-419: The floor, or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every time it would rebound. Mother listened to this for a time. She would not understand it and did not suspect us as being capable of a trick because we were so young. During the night of March 31, Kate challenged the invisible noisemaker, presumed to be a "spirit", to repeat the snaps of her fingers. "It" did. "It" was asked to rap out

3648-460: The girls' long dresses. In 1857, the Boston Courier set up a prize of $ 500 to any medium who could demonstrate a paranormal ability to their committee. The Fox sisters made an attempt and were investigated by a committee which included the magician John Wyman . The committee concluded the raps were produced by bone and feet movements and thus the Fox sisters failed the challenge. A report by

3724-448: The hoax. There has been no confirmation that the peddler existed. The alleged false wall appears to be due to an expansion of the foundation, not the concealment of a secret grave. Leah, on the death of her first husband, married a successful Wall Street banker. Margaretta met Elisha Kane , the Arctic explorer, in 1852. Kane was convinced that Margaretta and Kate were engaged in fraud, under

3800-544: The homestead to begin her Spiritualist travels with her older sister, Mrs. Underhill. Margaretta used new methods of creating raps by using the muscles of her lower leg. Pressured by the Spiritualist movement and her own dire financial circumstances, Margaretta recanted her confession in writing in November 1889, about a year after her exhibition. She had attempted to return to Spiritualist performances, but never again attracted

3876-427: The house was haunted, reputedly after a man who had been murdered in the house by a (falsely accused) man named Bell. Kate and Margaretta were sent to nearby Rochester during the excitement – Kate to the house of her sister Leah (now the married Leah Fox Fish), and Margaretta to the home of her brother David – and the rappings followed them. Amy and Isaac Post , a radical Quaker couple and long-standing friends of

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3952-447: The house. They went over the whole surrounding country trying to get the names of people who had formerly lived in the house. Finally, they found a man by the name of Bell, and they said that this poor innocent man had committed a murder in the house and that the noises had come from the spirit of the murdered person. Poor Bell was shunned and looked upon by the whole community as a murderer. The feminine security of these rappers against

4028-411: The inspection of their actual quomodo ... if by search warrant, stratagem, or vi et armis , the rapping instrument of these Fox girls had been exposed to the public, there would not have been one doubt about the nature and origin of the spiritual communications . Mrs. Underhill, my eldest sister, took Katie and me to Rochester. There it was that we discovered a new way to make the raps. My sister Katie

4104-497: The issue of love affairs." Horace Greeley , the prominent publisher and politician, became a kind of mentor for them, enabling their movement in higher social circles. Their public séances in New York in 1850 attracted notable people, including William Cullen Bryant , George Bancroft , James Fenimore Cooper , Nathaniel Parker Willis , Horace Greeley , Sojourner Truth and William Lloyd Garrison . Although Greeley watched over

4180-561: The movement, and Emma Hardinge Britten , who wrote for the first spiritualist newspaper in Britain, The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph . By the 1870s there were numerous spiritualist societies and churches throughout the US and Britain, but there was little in the way of national organization of mediums in Britain or the United States although some regions of Britain had organized Federations that might have up to thirty circles of similar beliefs. In 1891

4256-411: The name of God ( Jesus , YHWH or Allah etc.) or other aspects of a holy nature. Like most meditation techniques, imaging (intensely imagining a place or situation) is common. There are specific imagings used to "meet" one's guide, connect with those who have died, receive protection or support from God or simply calming the mind. Through engaging their intuition, they attempt to contact the spirits of

4332-401: The person in the congregation being given the information. Spiritualist healing, as practiced in some spiritualist churches during formal liturgical services, is a form of mediumship which involves directing healing energy to the patient from a higher source. The healer uses his or her hands to effect repair of damaged or diseased tissue and it is claimed all or part of the patient's good health

4408-410: The personality or mind survives and continues to exist on a spirit plane, sometimes referred to as the spirit world . Spiritualists use the word spirit as a plural which describes all minds and entities who have entered into the spirit world. The purpose of the medium is to provide evidence that a human has survived by describing the person to their surviving relatives. The degree of accuracy with which

4484-432: The rapidly proliferating varieties of fraudulent mediumship, increase communication among Spiritualists, prevent the legal prosecution of spirit mediums under fortune telling and medical licensing laws, and counterattacks by "orthodox" ministers in the press. To these reasons, early leaders added the material support of spirit mediums and healers, just as other religious groups provided for the support of their clergy. Among

4560-404: The raps should be made. She also claimed that Kate and Margaretta revealed to her the method of producing the raps by snapping their toes and using their knees and ankles. Charles Grafton Page , a patent examiner and patent advocate, had developed a keen eye for detecting fraudulent claims about science. In his book Psychomancy (1853), Page observed that the rapping sounds came from underneath

4636-415: The raps were genuine. However, Crookes was described as gullible and the mediums he investigated were caught using trickery. Harry Houdini , the magician who devoted a large part of his life to debunking Spiritualist claims, provided this insight: As to the delusion of sound. Sound waves are deflected just as light waves are reflected by the intervention of a proper medium and under certain conditions it

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4712-514: The sisters, the lack of parental supervision was pernicious , as both of the young women began to drink wine. Beginning in 1850, some critics concluded that the girls made the rappings themselves, including physician E. P. Longworthy, John W. Hurn, Reverend John M. Austin, and Reverend D. Potts. In 1851, the Reverend C. Chauncey Burr wrote in the New-York Tribune that by cracking toe joints

4788-497: The sounds were so loud, they could be heard in a large hall. In the same year, investigators from the University at Buffalo concluded that the raps were made by cracking joints of their body and that the raps would not occur if they had cushions under their feet. In 1851, Mrs. Norman Culver, a relative of the Fox family, admitted in a signed statement that she had assisted them during their séances by touching them to indicate when

4864-612: The teachings of Leafy Anderson are also distinguished by special services and hymns that honor the spirit of the Native American war chief Black Hawk , who lived in Illinois and Wisconsin (Anderson's home state). A third group of spiritualist churches propose the idea of the Universe as the creator, and does not necessarily follow any specific religious doctrine or dogma. Spiritualists believe that when people die physically an aspect of

4940-460: The theater. Doctors from the audience came on stage to verify that the cracking of her toe joints was the source of the sound. Margaretta told her story of the origins of the mysterious "rappings" in a signed confession given to the press and published in New York World , October 21, 1888. In it, she explained the Hydesville events. Margaretta expanded on her career as a medium after leaving

5016-469: The years, other statements have been adopted on "What Spiritualism Is and Does" and "Spiritual Healing." A set of "Definitions" has also been approved. The two issues of "reincarnation" and the relation of Spiritualism to Christianity have been the major questions dividing Spiritualists. Differing answers to these two questions have split the NSAC on several occasions, and dissent led independent Spiritualists to form their own organizations instead of joining

5092-502: Was a magistrate, farmer and businessman who left his mansion house as a place for the study and advancement of psychic science. It has become a psychic college in Stansted, England and is run by the SNU. Mediums develop their ability by sitting regularly in development circles with other student psychics. Meditation usually plays a large role in spiritualist practice. Meditation is used to calm

5168-585: Was a popular craze, reputedly even reaching Buckingham Palace . By 1924 there were 309 spiritualist churches affiliated to the SNU or one of the many other organisations. In 1932, a new magazine, Psychic News , joined Two Worlds on the newsstands of Britain and carried news of the doings in local spiritualist churches. From 1920 to 1938 there was the British College of Psychic Studies (1920 to 1947) led by Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie in London, but more successful

5244-412: Was adopted by many Spiritualist groups. Three other articles were added at a later date. By no means do all Spiritualist denominations or individual churches affirm these principles, but because of their historical significance in setting the beliefs of modern Spiritualism, all nine articles are quoted in full below. The influence of Unitarianism is obvious in the definition of God in principle one. Over

5320-547: Was apparently considered missionary work since Kate sat only for prominent persons, who would let their names be printed as witnesses to a séance. In 1872, Kate married H.D. Jencken, a London barrister, legal scholar, and enthusiastic Spiritualist. Jencken died in 1881, leaving Kate with two sons. In 1876, Margaretta joined her sister Kate, who was living in England. Over the years, sisters Kate and Margaretta had developed serious drinking problems. Around 1888, they became embroiled in

5396-513: Was built in 1888 of a value assessed at $ 30,000 at that time. It was 48' wide and 85' long and contained two large auditorium halls, one of which seated nearly 400 people. It was designed by the founder Pratt as a temple and a school for Spiritualism. At the Ninth Annual convention of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) held in Washington, D.C., Morris and Zulema Pratt presented

5472-422: Was designed. This was home of the Fox family and the property in which Modern Spiritualism began. The site of the Fox cottage in Hydesville, New York is thought to be a treasure for all Spiritualists and its restoration is supported by the descendants of the Fox sisters , pioneers at the beginning of Modern American Spiritualism. The NSAC is involved in fund raising to restore the property and grounds in time for

5548-784: Was living on charity as the sole tenant of an old tenement house at 456 West 56th Street. She was taken to the home of Spiritualist Mrs. Emily B. Ruggles, 492 State Street in Brooklyn, where she died on March 8, 1893. All three sisters are interred in Brooklyn, New York : Margaretta and Catherine in Cypress Hills Cemetery , and Leah with the Fox family in Green-Wood Cemetery . The Fox sisters have been widely cited in parapsychology and spiritualist literature. According to psychologists Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones, "many accounts of

5624-560: Was the Arthur Findlay College at Stansted which continues to exist. In 1957 spiritualist churches in Britain divided between the Spiritualists' National Union, influenced by Arthur Findlay 's beliefs and holding spiritualism to be a religion, and the circles of Christian Spiritualism, who hold spiritualism to be a denomination of Christianity. Spiritualists National Union churches form the large majority and are affiliated with

5700-525: Was the President. According to legend, it is said that a "Native American spirit guide" had told him of unknown mineral deposits the mining of which Morris Pratt made an investment in. It later became the profitable Ashland Mine of Ironwood, Michigan. Pratt made over $ 200,000 from his investment and used part of the monies for the benefit of the cause of Spiritualism. In 1889, the Temple was dedicated. The Center for Spiritualist Studies (CSS) in Lily Dale, New York,

5776-402: Was the first to observe that by swishing her fingers she could produce certain noises with her knuckles and joints and that the same effect could be made with the toes. Finding that we could make raps with our feet – first with one foot and then with both – we practiced until we could do this easily when the room was dark. Like most perplexing things when made clear, it is astonishing how easily it

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