The Spiritist Review - JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES - 1861

Allan Kardec

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Mrs. de Girardin (Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mrs. Costel)

NOTE: Since some criticism was made about a communication given by Mrs. de Girardin in a previous session, she gave a spontaneous answer to them. She indicates the circumstances around that communication.


“I come to thank the member that kindly came out in my defense and moral rehabilitation before you. In fact when alive I used to love and respect the laws of good taste, those of delicacy I tell you from my heart, given my gender during that time. After my death God allowed me to raise to higher levels and to practice with simplicity the duties of charity that unite us all, people and spirits. With this explanation, I will not discuss the communication that bears my name since criticism and censorship are neither suitable to me nor to the medium. Thus, believe me that I will come whenever I am evoked but I will never get into futile discussions. I spoke about the children. Let me go back to that subject that was the painful ulcer of my life. Women need the double crown of love and maternity to fulfill the mandate of self-sacrifice entrusted by God when sending them to Earth. Alas! I never knew those sweet and tender worries that imprint in our soul by those frail submissions. How often I have gazed at those playful children touching my dress with bitter tears in my eyes. I felt the anguish and humiliation of my failure. I shuddered, waited, listened, and my life filled with worldly success, was a fruit filled with ashes, that left me a bitter and disappointing taste.”


Delphine de Girardin


OBSERVATION: There is a lesson in this message that cannot go unnoticed. Mrs. Girardin said that when alive she used to love and respect the laws of good taste, those of delicacy, making reference to certain passages of her preceding communication that had provoked some objections. She also says that she preserved those feeling after her death. Consequently she rejects everything that may bear her name and denies those feelings. The soul mirrors the qualities and defects that are shown during their corporeal life with the exception of eventual progress that may have occurred but the soul is never inferior to its prior condition. Therefore there are sometimes very subtle nuances to be observed in the communications from the spirits so as to distinguish between what could be a replacement and what is really from that spirit. The really superior spirits are never caught in contradiction and one can boldly reject anything that may betray their character. This assessment is more difficult since a perfectly authentic communication may be mixed with thoughts from the medium, who does not clearly express the idea, or a strange spirit that interposes his thoughts between the medium and the communicating spirit. Hence, communications that denies the character of the communicating spirit in all points and in the essence of his ideas must be considered of doubtful authenticity. Nevertheless, it would be unfair to condemn the whole text due to some partial stained remarks that may come from the causes above.

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