The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

Allan Kardec

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Spirits’ Scale
Third Order – Imperfect Spirits


General characteristics: Prevalence of matter over the spirit. Have tendency towards evil. Show ignorance, arrogance, egotism and all their consequent passions.

Have the intuition of God but do not understand Him.

Not all of them are essentially bad; some show more levity, inconsequence and wickedness than evilness. Others neither practice good nor evil but by simply not being good they reveal inferiority. Others still rejoice with iniquity and are delighted by the very opportunity of practicing it. These can associate their intelligence to meanness or malevolence but whatever their intellectual development may be, their ideas are not much elevated and their feelings more or less abject.

Their comprehension about the spiritual world is limited and their little knowledge is mixed with their preconceived ideas from their corporeal life. They can only give us false and incomplete notions but the thoughtful observer many times discovers in their communications, though imperfect, the confirmation of the immense truths taught by the superior spirits.
Their character is revealed by their language. Every spirit who, in the communications, betrays one thought may be classified in the third order; thus every bad thought which is suggested to us comes from a spirit of that order.

They see the happiness of the good spirits and this is an inexorable distress to them, as they experience all anguishes produced by envy and jealousy.

These spirits keep the memory and perception of the sufferings of their corporeal life and those perceptions are sometimes harder than reality. They really suffer by the ill deeds they had to endure and by those they had imposed to others. As they suffer for a long time they judge their suffering as eternal. God allows them to think so in order to help them seek a better way.

These spirits may be divided in four main groups:


Ninth class: Impure Spirits

They are inclined towards evil, object of their concerns. As spirits their advices are perfidious, spread discord and mistrust and use all masks to better deceive others. They associate themselves to those persons of sufficiently weak character to give in to their suggestions in order to take them to perdition, happy if able to delay progress, leading others to succumb in their trials.

Their language can be recognized in the manifestations. The triviality and gross expressions, with the spirits as with men, are always indications of moral, if not intellectual inferiority. Their communications reveal the baseness of their tendencies. When trying to deceive, speaking in a sensible way, they soon reveal their origin as they cannot sustain such role for long.

Certain peoples made them malevolent divinities; others designated them by demons, genies or evil spirits.

When incarnated the bodies they animate are inclined to all kinds of vices as well as their consequent vile and degrading passions: sensuality, cruelty, forgery, hypocrisy, cupidity and sordid greed. They do evil things for the pleasure of it, most of the time without motive and, by their hatred of good, usually electing their victims among good people. They are a scourge to humanity, whatever the class they belong and the varnish of civilization does not spare them from the opprobrium and ignominy.

Eighth Class: Frivolous Spirits

These spirits are ignorant, malevolent, inconsequent and scorner. Get involved in all things, responding to anything with no regard whatsoever to the truth. As they enjoy provoking small upsets as well as little happiness, the spirits like to produce discord and maliciously induce error by mystifications and naughtiness. Spirits in this class are typically designated as elves, goblins, trasgos and gnomes. They depend on the superior spirits by whom they are frequently employed just as we do with our servants and workers.

They seem, more than the others, attached to matter, having an active role as agents of the vicissitude of global elements, living in the air, water, fire, in the solid bodies or even in the entrails of the earth. Several times they manifest their presence through sensitive effects such as raps, movements, abnormal displacements of solid bodies, air agitation, etc. which gave them the name “boisterous spirits”. It is acknowledged that those phenomena are not due to a fortuitous and natural cause when they present an intentional and intelligent character. All spirits can produce these effects but the superior spirits, generally, leave that to the inferior spirits, more apt to material than intelligent actions.

When communicating, their language sometimes shows wit and happiness but almost always without depth. Their sarcastic and satiric expressions contain caprices and ridicule. They sometimes assume fictitious names for malice rather than malevolence.

Seventh Class: Pseudo-wise Spirits

Having extensive knowledge, these spirits assume to know more than they actually do. They show some progress from several points of view. Their language has a serious character, which may lead to mistakes regarding their capacity and illumination, but, very frequently, it is simply a reaction of their prejudices and systematic ideas carried over from their earthly life. Their words are a mixture of some truths and some absurdities, which stem presumption, pride, envy and stubbornness that they have not yet stripped.

Sixth Class: Neutral Spirits

These are not good enough to do good deeds or bad enough to do evil ones. They incline towards one or the other and do not rise above the vulgar of humanity, with respect to morality as well as intelligence. These spirits attach themselves to earthly things whose gross pleasures they miss.



Second Order – Good Spirits



General characteristics: Prevalence of spirit over matter; desire of good. Their qualities and capacities for the practice of good are proportional to the level they have reached: some have science, others wisdom and goodness; the most advanced unite knowledge to moral qualities. As they are not completely dematerialized, they more or less maintain, according to their classes, traces of the corporeal existence, both in their language as well as in their habits, where we can even identify certain customs, without which they would be perfect spirits.

They understand God and the infinity and already enjoy the happiness of the good ones. They feel happy for the good they spread as well as the evil they avoid. Love is a bonding source of ineffable happiness, unaltered by envy, or sorrow, or remorse, or by any other bad passion which torment the imperfect spirits; nevertheless all still have to endure trials before reaching absolute perfection.

As spirits, they give rise to good thoughts deviating men from tortuous paths; during life they protect those who are worthy of their protection and neutralize the influence of the imperfect spirits over those who are not pleased to submit to them.

When incarnated, these are good and benevolent to all their neighbors. They are not moved by pride or selfishness, or even by ambition. Do not experiment hate, resentment, envy or jealousy and practice good for the good.

These are the commonly designated good geniuses or protector geniuses, spirits of good in the vulgar beliefs. Over the times of superstition and ignorance, they were transformed into beneficent divinities.

They can also be divided into four main groups:
Fifth Class: Benevolent Spirits

Goodness is their prevalent quality. Enjoy protecting and serving men but their knowledge is limited: they have progressed more in the moral than in the intellectual sense.

Fourth Class: Spirits of science

The extension of their knowledge is what distinguishes them. Less concerned with the moral questions than with the scientific ones, for which have more aptitude but only see science from its utility point of view, not blending that with any passion characteristic of the imperfect spirits.

Third Class: Wise Spirits

Moral qualities of the highest order are what distinguish them. Their knowledge is not unlimited but they have such a high intellectual capability that it allows them to make a shrewd judgment of men and all things.

Second Class: Superior Spirits

Unite science, wisdom and benevolence. Their language, permanently dignified and elevated, breathes generosity and, sometimes, it is sublime. Their superiority enable them, more than the others, with the ability to give us the most rightful notions of the incorporeal world, within the limits allowed to men. Show good will in the communications with those who, in good faith, look for the truth and whose souls are released enough from the earthly harnesses to understand it, but stay away from those animated by curiosity or those deviated from the righteous path due to the influence of matter.

When exceptionally reincarnate on earth it is to accomplish a mission of progress. It is when they offer us the type of perfection that humanity may aspire in this world.

First Order – Pure Spirits


General characteristics: Influence of matter is non-existent. Possess absolute intellectual and moral superiority over the spirits of the other orders.

First Class: Pure Spirits

Have passed through all degrees of the scale and are cleansed from all impurities of matter. Having achieved supreme perfection attainable by the creature, they do not have to go through trials and expiations. No longer subjected to incarnation in perishable bodies, enjoy the eternal life by God’s side.

Live an unaltered happiness as they no longer are subjected to the needs and vicissitudes of the material life, but such a happy state is not a monotonous idleness in a perpetual state of contemplation. They are the messengers and ministers of God whose orders execute in order to maintain universal harmony. Command all spirits below them, attributing missions and helping in their progression. Show contentment in supporting man with their anguishes, stimulating them towards the practice of good, encouraging them with the expiation of their faults which keep them away from the supreme happiness. These are sometimes called angels, archangels or seraphim.

Man can communicate with them but anyone who intended to have them at their service would be presumptuous.

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