The Fox Sisters - Beginning of Spiritualism

March 31st, 1848 saw the beginnings of spiritualism in the parlor of the Fox home in Hydesville, New York. Kate and Margaret had been living with their parents in what was considered a haunted house. Raps and knocks were pretty much the extent of the activity.

On this infamous night, Kate began to ask the spirits questions, like repeating how many times she snapped her fingers or asking the sisters' ages. The responses developed into yes and no, so that other questions could be asked. Very quickly these methods spread like wildfire, with mediums coming out of the woodwork.
Margaret Fox, in her later years noted:- "They [the neighbors] were convinced that some one 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 afterwards. The murder they concluded must have been committed in 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 two women were sent to sibling homes, Kate to Leah's and Margaret to their brother David's home. The Fox parents felt it might be good for them to get away from the fervor that the rappings had caused in an ever-expanding area around Hydesville.

Unfortunately sending them away wasn't the answer. The goings-on followed them. This, of course, convinced everyone that the mediums were genuine and the contact with spirits was very much real. Friends of the family, Amy and Isaac Post, Quakers, had the girls visit their home.

"In this way, appeared the association between Spiritualism and radical political causes such as abolition, temperance and equal rights for women."

By mid 1850, the girls had channeled for both famous and not famous people of the time, conducting séances and spirit communication. The sisters began to travel in circles of high society because of their apparent gift of talking to the dead. Wine drinking and late nights took their toll on the women.

In the fifties, Margaret married a man named Kane, a skeptic who tried to keep her from her sisters by moving her away and having her convert to Roman Catholicism. After Kane's death however, she returned to her sister Kate in England and the mediums continued. Kate's husband passed away in 1881, leaving her with two kids.

William Crookes, a scientist of some note between '71 and '74, said that Kate was a powerful medium, producing raps with authenticity.

"I have tested them in every way that I could devise, until there has been no escape from the conviction that they were true objective occurrences not produced by trickery or mechanical means." Crookes - 1874

In later years, both Margaret and Kate drank far too much, causing Leah and other spiritualists to be concerned for her children. The sisters feuded with Leah and took money for a confession of fraud and Margaret was seduced by the offer. She went into detail about how her toe joints caused the crackings and rappings, that she and Kate had devised methods to convince those attending that the messages were real.

Within five years of Margaret's recanting of her expose, both sisters were dead, in pauper's graves, turned away by former followers and friends.

© 2008 JLee D

Mediumship is a form of relationship with spirits. Attempts to communicate with the dead and other spirits have been documented back to early human history. One of the most well-known is the story Witch of Endor, who was said to have raised the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew king Saul to question his former mentor about an upcoming battle, as related in the First Book of Samuel in the Jewish Tanakh.

Mediumship became quite popular in the United States after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date to the mediumistic activities of the Fox sisters in New York state 1848.

Wikipedia

As spiritualism came into vogue in the mid nineteenth century, spirit writing became a popular form of mediumship. A spiritualist or medium sat with pencil in hand, while others sat nearby ready to feed her/him blank sheets of paper awaiting the frantic script of the channeled messages. With the fringe attendees growing weary of the standard methods of "communication" like the auditory knocks of the Hydesville Fox sisters and other fashionable spiritualists used, spirit writing was just the ticket to renew a robust interest in the spirit realm and séances once more. The method of automatic writing opened the door for women of the Victorian era to achieve some notoriety. Taking up the spirit pen meant they could write, while not breaking any of the societal morals of the day. Blaming it on the spirits held up much better when confronted by an angry husband or father.

When it comes to the medium's involvement in the process, some people slip into a trancelike state while doing this, while others are fully awake and simple let the words flow, usually not really aware of what is being written because the messages generally come in very quickly, as though the spirit has only so much energy to funnel the message to the medium. Some go into a complete trance, unaware of either the movement of the pencil or the words coming through, although some have reported feeling heat when angry words pour out and cool when the messages are calm. As though the feelings behind the messages come through clearly for some sensitive ones.

A NY state supreme court judge named John Edmonds, in the mid nineteenth century attended a session with the Foxes after he lost his wife. He had a friend who claimed to be a medium and pushed this man to try to channel famous authors and writers. What those automatic writing sessions produced are considered vague at best. The one thing the get-togethers did do was to stir even more interest in professional and public figures. Edmonds was lucky his position in the courts did not radically suffer from his dabbling in the spirit realms.

Over the next hundred and fifty years, not only was writing used, mathematics came through from the spirit world, music, song lyrics, poetry, erotica and art. Mandelas are said to be drawn by artists guided by "god". Voodoo Veves and other magical symbology as well.

Spirit communication is here to stay, be it by word, tapping, ouija boards, automatic writing or spirit art. Humans will continue to strive to open more clear communication with those on the other side.

© 2008

Automatic or spirit writing is the practice of writing while channeling messages from the spirit realm. Those on the Other Side are sometimes strong enough to "push" textual messages across the veil and those who are able to relax enough to take up the pen in a spirit writing session will have interesting messages come through.

Automatic writing sessions will often leave the psychic exhausted. It takes great effort to remain still while spirit energies literally take over strongly enough to send messages through the brain of the channel.

It may have its down side, but spirit writing can yield some of the finest works and bodies of information. It allows for great detail if desired and so long as the psychic can keep the same momentum as the spirits, the message system will be successful.

To try automatic writing, sit in a quiet place, with a large pad of paper in front of you and a pencil or pen in your hand. Relax completely and breathe, letting stress drift away. Try not to focus on anything in particular. Let your thoughts drift until they are indeed random. Begin writing if the urge strikes you. Many beginners feel the spirit pull as an urge to put pen to paper. You can begin by doing circles (a spiral) along your page. At times this can develop into words and messages.

This practice can bring out messages and information that otherwise may not get channeled, but caution is always wise when dealing with the other side and energy that isn't familiar to you.

The very first analysis of clairvoyant phenomena in UK was held when the Psychical Research Society came into being in 1882. The society was established by a bunch of Cambridge Scholars whose purpose was to investigate the mystical occurrences by the means of scientific methodology. The Psychical Research Society is situated in Kensington, London. Even today, this society continues to support and promote the research and observation into clairvoyant activities. The Psychical Research society publishes their findings based on their research and also presents lectures.
Another most famous institute for Psychic research in UK is the College of Psychic Studies. The college of psychic studies was established in 1884 in London, UK. The college provides various courses and lectures for developing clairvoyant capabilities in diverse spheres like spiritual development, psychic healing and counseling. The college of psychic studies also proffers consultations and sessions with the psychic readers and psychic healers. The founders of this college had a great deal of interest in psychic research and demonstrating the subsistence of life after death.

The UK is a fine place for visiting primeval sites and investigating into the realm of spiritualism. In UK you will find many ancient houses, churches, priories and castles, which are believed to be haunted. There are quite a lot of principle locations where you can develop and practice the psychometric skills. If you are interested in psychic reading in UK, then you must certainly visit an old battle sight or an ancient building and see what impressions you can collect from there. There are many ancient sites like Stonehenge or stones at avebury, which is believed to have the old spiritual connotations and perhaps pagan rituals were conceded out there.

Even today, UK continues to have a deep concern towards extrasensory phenomenon and psychic happenings. There are many psychic readers available in UK, practicing clairvoyant readings in a number of ways. One such popular way of psychic reading is the Tarot Card reading. Wicca and Paganism practices are continued even today. Horoscopes are printed in the newspapers and the lifestyle magazines. Royals and Celebrities are among the regular clients for psychic consultations with many renowned psychic readers in UK.

The faith in life after death and the concept of spiritualism is sound and alive in UK. One can see many blooming churches and priories around the country. At many places meetings and lectures are held by experienced psychic readers to demonstrate their paranormal skills and to deal with the queries of the recipients. To get a more detailed insight into the history of psychic in UK, you can either search on the Internet or you can also refer to various books describing the historical psychic background in UK.

About the guest author
For more insights and further information about Psychic Readings visit our site http://www.find-the-right-psychic.co.uk/

Spiritualism is a religion, a science and a philosophy. They believe in the existence of God although their ideas about God are not fixed. they believe that all mankind should live in harmonious brotherhood and they believe that a part of man, his soul or spirit, exists for eternity.
These concepts are common to most religions, however in Spiritualism they try to give people evidence that the soul exists and that after death it continues on into another realm, in the spirit-world.

Spiritualism doesn't tell you what you should believe or how you should interpret religious philosophy. They have no books that must be followed, they have no preachers whose word must be obeyed. As a guideline to their religious thinking they have their Seven Principles, but exactly what these mean and how they can be applied to our lives is up to the individual.

The purpose for our lives and how we should live them is not dictated by Spiritualism. They have an individual flexible concept of God and beliefs among Spiritualists are often different. How they understand the world and spiritual matters depends upon each persons individual experience and knowledge.

Whilst alot of people need to be under some kind of religious "umbrella" there are also people who are happy without following any particular religious path. I am such a person, I am curious about most religions, whilst the concepts of Spiritualism press alot of the right buttons for me, however I do not class my self as a Spiritualist. When people ask what religion I follow, I tend to say none, but I am a spiritual person.

Are you a person who feels safe following a particular religion.

Is your religious beliefs also that of your family and forebears.

Did you decide to break away from "family tradition" and follow your own path?

If any of the above statements match your own experiences we would love to hear of your experiences.

About the guest author
Having been interested in all things spiritual since a very early age I finally decided to put it all together on my own web site. Please have a look through and comment on the articles. If you have an article that you would like to see on there then just contact me. http://www.spiritual-web.com

Spiritualism -- it dominated the 19th Century public fancy the way Aliens and UFO's did the 20th Century.

The top Mediums -- and even their Spirit Guides -- were worldwide celebrities!

The practice of communicating with the dead is ancient. Shamans, the "medicine men" and "wise women" who were the first priests of every culture, did it. The Oracles of ancient Greece did it. So, too, the Medieval necromancers.

But it wasn't until the middle of the 19th Century that communication with the dead became a public entertainment and preoccupation: "Everybody is doing it!"

The movement, soon to be named Spiritualism, began in 1848 in Hydesville, New York State. The Fox Sisters -- Leah, Margaretta and Kate -- lived with their family in a tumbledown house with a history of hauntings. The Fox family began to hear knocking sounds in the walls and phantom footsteps on the stairs. Mrs. Fox's hair went gray in a week. The three sisters were most sensitive to the knocking sounds, and began to speak of a "Mr Splitfoot."

Believing the sounds to be made by a spirit, the girls worked out a code with "Mr Splitfoot" and were told by him that he was the ghost of an itinerant peddler who'd been murdered for his money and buried in the cellar of their house by former owners. The story was confirmed by a maid who had lived in the house when the murder took place.

When the family moved away, the sisters still still heard the knockings. The spirit-messages, they said, told them that they were chosen "to convince the skeptical of the great truth of immortality."

The public was fascinated.

In just a few years Spiritualism spread throughout North America and Europe.

New phrases were added to the public lexicon: Mediums. The Other Side. Apports. Table-rapping. Levitation. Discarnates. Ectoplasm. Physical materializations. Seances. Automatic writing. Clairaudience and Clairvoyance. Ouija Boards. Thought forms. Controls. Spirit Guides. Spirit possession. Trance State.

Hundreds of mediums gained fame... read the rest