Mediums who claim to contact spirits of the dead or other spirits while on a stage, with audience members seated before them, are not literally holding a séance, because they themselves are not seated however, this is still called "séance". Paschal Beverly Randolph Stage mediumship séances The spirits addressed in Espiritismo are often those of ancestors or Catholic saints. In the Latin American religion of Espiritismo, which somewhat resembles Spiritualism, séance sessions in which congregants attempt to communicate with spirits are called misas (literally "masses"). Black Hawk was a spirit who was often contacted by the Spiritualist medium Leafy Anderson and he remains the central focus of special services in the African American Spiritual Churches that she founded. An example of the latter is the spirit of Black Hawk, a Native American warrior of the Fox tribe who lived during the 19th century. In addition to communicating with the spirits of people who have a personal relationship to congregants, some Spiritual Churches also deal with spirits who may have a specific relationship to the medium or a historic relationship to the body of the church. Sometimes the medium stands to receive messages and only the sitter is seated in some churches, the message service is preceded by a "healing service" involving some form of faith healing. Generally Spiritualist "message services" or "demonstrations of the continuity of life" are open to the public. In these sessions, which generally take place in well-lit Spiritualist churches or outdoors at Spiritualist camps (such as Lily Dale in upstate New York or Camp Cassadaga in Florida), an ordained minister or gifted contact medium will relate messages from spirit personalities to those here in the physical form. Usually, this is only called "séance" by outsiders the preferred term for Spiritualists is "receiving messages". In the religion of Spiritualism, and the religion of Divine Metaphysics (a federally recognized religious branch out of Spiritualism in the United States), it is generally a part of services to communicate with living personalities in the spirit world. Main articles: Spiritualism, Spiritism, and Espiritismo The term séance is used in a few different ways, and can refer to any of four different activities, each with its own social norms and conventions, its own favoured tools, and its own range of expected outcomes. Modern séances continue to be a part of the religious services of Spiritualist, Spiritist, and Espiritismo churches today, where a greater emphasis is placed on spiritual values versus showmanship. The 1887 Seybert Commission report marred the credibility of Spiritualism at the height of its popularity by publishing exposures of fraud and showmanship among secular séance leaders. Perhaps the best-known series of séances conducted at that time were those of Mary Todd Lincoln who, grieving the loss of her son, organized Spiritualist séances in the White House, which were attended by her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, and other prominent members of society. The popularity of séances grew dramatically with the founding of the religion of Spiritualism in the mid-nineteenth century. Among the notable spirits quoted in this volume are Peter the Great, Pericles, a "North-American Savage", William Penn, and Christina, Queen of Sweden. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance.įictionalised conversations between the deceased appeared in Dialogues of the Dead by George, First Baron Lyttelton, published in England in 1760. In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of " une séance de cinéma" ( lit. The word séance comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". ɑː n s/ French: ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits.
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