Spiritism In Brazil, 120 Years Of Science , Religion And Intellectualism

Spiritism , a science dedicated to the relationship between incorporeal beings (spirits) and human beings . It is a religion that has in its core both the ideas of mediumship and science.

Quite unlike Catholicism, Protestantism or Candomblé, some Spiritists see themselves as not adhering to a religion, but to a philosophical doctrine with a scientific fulcrum and moral grounds.

The Brazilian Spiritism , relatively recent , has become unavoidable in many areas and has become part of the system . Almost 4 million people in Brazil are self-declared followers of spiritism

Brazil is one of the countries having the highest number of practicing Spiritists in the world. Brazil displays syncretism of certain beliefs with religions that englobe Candomblé ( A version of Yoruba Religion in Brazil ) Spiritism in Brazil was introduced at the end of the nineteenth century when it disseminated between intellectuals and the middle class. The concept is relatively recent, it arrived in Brazil over 120 years ago with the teachings of eternal life and the existence of God, but very importantly the communication with the departed.

Like other religions , Spiritism was not born in Brazil. Neither did it arrive with the landing of the first settlers or slaves. It took a long detour from the United States and Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century before spreading to South America, and particularly to Brazil.

Spiritism is a doctrine based on manifestations and the teachings of spirits. The existence of God and eternal life is fully accepted, accompanied by a concrete communication with various spiritual beings, especially the deceased. What was vaguely called “magnetic phenomena” at the beginning of the 19th century became “American Spiritism” with the arrival of a mission of North American mediums in Europe.

In France, Léon Hippolyte-Denizard Rivail, a schoolteacher from Lyon, better known under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec, took a keen interest when the civil bourgeoisie changed their attitude in the hope of coming into contact with missing beings. He codified the practices, and synthesized his numerous observations in the 1857 book,“The Spirits’ Book”. The name of Kardec quickly became famous and his philosophy was simply called “Spiritism“.

Initially a belief for conventions of intellectuals, spiritism has developed so much in this country that it has become a religion in Brazil that is not only well established, but is recognized as being of public utility

Spiritism (Espiritismo or Kardecismo, in Portuguese) first developed in Brazil during the second half of the nineteenth century as a mediumship religion and scientific discourse identified with the writings of French educator Allan Kardec (born Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, 1804-1869). Although he defined Spiritism as a philosophy, a religion, and a science, Brazilians tended to grant special importance to healing mediumship since its inception. Kardec coined the term “Spiritism” –which acknowledges human communication with disembodied spirits and reincarnation – so as to differentiate the belief system from “Spiritualism” – which emphasizes resurrection. He codified Spiritist principles as dictated to him by spirits during séances in five books: The Spirits’ Book, The Medium’s Book, The Gospel Explained by Spiritism, Heaven & Hell, and Genesis.

Blending the lessons of the Christian New Testament, Platonist philosophy and life sciences, Allan Kardec professed that God had created a universe constituted of spirit and matter, and therefore, of two worlds: the visible human sphere and the realm of invisible souls. Since these “spirits” had been made imperfect, Kardec believed in the need for their moral and intellectual evolution through time toward their inevitable union with God. In this path, Jesus Christ figured as the major moral model to be emulated. Spiritists trust that spiritual and physical health can be achieved through the practice of charity, the study of Spiritist books, by receiving and giving spiritual energy or by interacting with the spirits. Spiritist meetings usually take place at centers where believers congregate to teach the doctrine to the spirits that manifest themselves, conduct physical and spiritual treatment of members, and hear lectures.

According to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Spiritism is a fast-growing religion in Brazil with 3.8 million self-declared members in the 2018 national census. Spiritism has flourished especially among the middle-classes, but its appeal is wide, for it plays a mediating role between Brazilian popular religiosity and elite science and medicine. The religion owes much of its dissemination to the apostolate work carried out by spiritual mediuns, of which Francisco “Chico” Xavier (1910–2002) is probably the most famous. Throughout his life, Chico Xavier wrote more than 400 books and thousands of letters to family members of deceased people, ostensibly using psychography. Despite the existence of a Federação Espírita Brasileira (Brazilian Spiritist Federation) since 1884, Spiritism is not a centralized religion in Brazil, and is practiced differently according to distinct understandings of mediumship. When influenced by Afro-Brazilian tradition, Kardecism has given rise to a more popular version of Spiritism in Brazil, which is, however, not officially recognized by the Spiritist Federation.

Spiritism took root in Brazil with the help of Chico Xavier (1910-2002), a celebrity medium from the state of Minas Gerais. Mediums are another critical aspect of Spiritism; they are those who can communicate with spirits of the afterlife through séances or other means. Xavier, for instance, was renowned for his ability to write letters from the dead to their loved ones (six of which were used as legitimate evidence in murder trials). The charisma and popularity of Xavier contributed to an explosion of Spiritist believers in Brazil.

Today, Brazil is the most Spiritist country in the world. With over 3.8 million believers, Spiritism is the third largest religious group after Catholics and evangelicals. In the city of Palmelo, for example, one in every seven people is a medium. The majority of followers are from my home in Rio de Janeiro, followed closely by São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Interestingly, most Spiritists are highly educated, middle to upper class elites (over 98 percent are literate). This can be attributed to the fact that Spiritistism demands intense personal study and research to be truly understood, as well as a common sentiment that Spiritism is more refined than traditional Catholicism.

As Adriana explained, however, Spiritism does not necessarily conflict with other religious beliefs. She, for example, considers herself both Catholic and Spiritist. Many claim Spiritism is not a religion, after all, but more of a philosophy. Accordingly, Adriana believes the reliance upon science of Spiritism allows her to understand much of what Catholicism leaves unexplained.

After stumbling out of Portuguese class in a bewildered haze , she said “ I began to notice Spiritist subtleties hidden on the streets of Rio. The Spiritist Center of Rio de Janeiro (for example) is two blocks from my house, right next to the local Catholic school. Spiritism even infiltrates the media, making appearances in countless soap operas, songs, and even a 2010 biographical blockbuster on Chico Xavier. While the Catholic Church would undoubtedly not approve of certain tenets of Spiritism, that does not deter believers from nonchalantly merging the two doctrines into a subtle, powerful, ever-growing movement throughout Brazil.
It is simply a different point of view. While the panorama from Christ the Redeemer shows a landscape littered with churches, a glance up from the streets reveals a shimmering community of souls, casually co-mingling with Brazil’s Catholic icon”

Brazilian Spiritism (espiritismo, kardecismo) is an important middle-class religious movement whose followers believe in communication with the dead via spirit mediums and in healing illnesses by means of spiritual therapies. Unlike Anglo-Saxon Spiritualists, Brazilian Spiritists count among their number a well-developed and institutionalized intellectual elite that has reinterpreted northern hemisphere parapsychology and developed its own alternative medicine and sociology of religion. As a result, the mediation between popular religion (especially Afro-Brazilian religious practices) and the orthodoxies of the universities, the state, and the medical profession.

As early as 1858, the Brazilian elites heard about this new doctrine that engulfed Europe, and the first gathering places appeared in Bahia, then in Rio from 1865. Intellectuals such as Pierre-Gaëtan Leymarie, even corroborated with “Spiritist magazine”. Soon, Spiritist newspapers were introduced in Brazil, and in 1884 the “Federação Espírita Brasileira” (Brazilian Spiritan Federation) was founded. The first director was an influential deputy, Bezerra de Menezes.

After conquering the cities, Spiritism reached the countryside in the early years of the twentieth century, thanks to the roaming of a proselyte of Kardec’s work, Cairbar Schutel. Schutel founded the magazine Revista Internacional do Espiritismo a few years later, alongside writing a number of books and featuring in radio broadcasts. The organisation of free care and the first Spiritist hospitals were down to the work of Schutel.

After the Second World War, Spiritism ran up against the “Umbanda” variant of Candomblé, which was attracting some of the Spiritist practitioners to it. To assert their identity, the Spiritist federations met in Rio de Janeiro in 1949 and signed the Noble Pact (Pacto Áureo) which committed them to remain faithful to the founding doctrine of Allan Kardec. This pact is still in force and gives true meaning to Spiritism in relation to other religions.

Spiritism in Brazil quickly became identified with social action through the opening of libraries and kindergartens. Medium-healers became famous, such as Eurípedes Barsanulfo , José Pedro de Freitas “Zé Arigó” who attracted reporters from all over the world in the post-war years, and the famous Chico Xavier, medium-healer and psychographer, who would write more than 400 books. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice.

Xavier goes so far as to proclaim that Brazil is the “adopted country” of Spiritism, and its third most prominent religion. Some would argue however, that Spiritism is not a religion but a doctrine that is based on principles and not dogmas, and also that the concept of a messiah is absent. Spiritists accuse religion of being a belief held but unverified whereas they “question the real to learn more”. With almost 6 million followers, and 20 million who call themselves “sympathizers”, Spiritism is indeed in third position in the ranking of religions in Brazil.

Formerly punished by the law and target of violent attacks, Spiritism has now become a “religion of public utility” in Brazil. It is practiced, at different levels, by all categories of the population, with the exception of the most popular classes who prefer to turn mainly to televangelism or candomblé. Its followers have opened nurseries, hospitals, schools and dispensaries; they work for the improvement of society. Spiritism also helps to cure ailments where traditional medicine has been proven useless, such as the use of exorcisms or curing mental disorders from “another life”. The reception centers continue to multiply throughout the country offering care and legal advice.

Most corporations have a spirit association including magistrates, psychologists, artists, military, and teachers. Spiritism is taught at the Public University of São Paulo and has museums in Curitiba and São Paulo. There are Spiritist television shows and its role in the development of the country was officially recognized when April 18th was dedicated “National Day of Spiritism”

The influence of spiritism, which claims millions of adherents, shows no signs of waning.
Less than 30 years ago, Christian anthropologists were predicting the death of spiritism. Surely, they reasoned, the complexities of the urban age would create problems spiritism simply could not solve.

But it hasn’t happened that way. Today in Brazil, the most urbanized and industrialized of all South American nations, spiritism flourishes. “After more than 20 years in Brazil,” said Mennonite Brethren missionary James Wiebe, “I’ve never met one family that didn’t have at least some involvement with spiritism.” Wiebe challenged the theory that spiritism is dying in his 1979 doctoral dissertation at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Recently, the Brazilian Commission for Evangelization held a major meeting at which theologians and denominational leaders discussed spiritism and how to combat it
Broadly defined, spiritism refers to the belief that man can contact spirits and influence them to act on his behalf. Through a variety of practices—some unusual and grotesque spiritists seek to capture the attention and power of spirits, hoping for help for a problem or situation. People go to spiritist leaders, believing they have special abilities to summon and influence the spirits.
Wiebe is not alone in his assessment of spiritism’s popularity in Brazil. Pentecostal bishop and writer W. Robert McAlister cites census figures of 30 million Brazilian spiritists. But he says it is likely the true number is much higher. C. Wesley King, director of the Free Methodist Seminary of São Paulo, estimates that up to half of the Brazilian population is connected in some way to spiritism.

In Brazil, pictures of spiritist saints appear on postage stamps. Spiritist themes surface in television soap operas. Professional soccer teams routinely hire spiritists to work spells on opponents. Politicians have been known to consult spiritists before taking trips or making major decisions. The Spiritist Federation of São Paulo operates a large office complex of counseling rooms attracting more than 3,000 people a day for spiritual consultations. Spiritists run welfare programs orphanages, and literature operations. In short, spiritism is becoming institutionalized and thus “respectable.”

Nearly a century later, at the end of his first appearance on Pinga-Fogo, Chico Xavier psychographed a poem, “Second Millennium,” which spoke of anxiety and struggle. “Belief self-destructs” on the eve of the new millennium, the poem claimed. But it then promised that on earth the “ship that crashes and shakes” light would continue to shine, for “Christ is at the helm, preparing the world for a new dawn.” After reading the poem out loud and thanking his spirit guides and the program host, Xavier closed by reciting the Our Father.

The most famous medium in the world communicating with a dead poet, sharing an evangelical message, and leading a Catholic prayer. How do we make sense of that? Thinking seriously about Spiritism requires rethinking boundaries between spiritual and secular, conventional and alternative, traditional and New Age. It means reconsidering, rerouting, and perhaps even erasing the lines altogether.

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