The Spiritist Review - JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES - 1861

Allan Kardec

Back to the menu
Mrs. Anais Gourdon

A young lady, remarkable for her kind disposition and by the most eminent moral qualities, died in November 1860. She was evoked after a request from her father and her husband. She belonged to a family of miners near Saint-Étienne, an important aspect to be taken into account for the analysis of the evocation.


1. Evocation. – A. Here I am.


2. Your father and your husband asked me to evoke you and will be very happy for receiving your communication. – A. I am also very happy for being able to communicate with them.


3. Why have you been taken away so soon from the warmth of your loving family? – A. Because my Earthly trials were over.


4. Do you see them from time to time? – A. Oh! I am always with them.


5. Are you happy as a spirit? – A. I am happy, I serve and I love. Heaven does not frighten me and I wait confidently and with love so that my white wings may grow.



6. What do you mean by those wings? – A. I mean I should turn into a pure spirit and shine like the celestial messengers that dazzle me.


OBSERVATION: The wings of angels, archangels and seraphs, the pure spirits, are evidently attributes imagined by human beings to portray the speed of their dislocation, since their ethereal nature excuses them from any obstacle when covering spaces. However, they may show themselves to people using that accessory, responding to people’s thoughts, like others who take the appearance they had on Earth in order to make themselves known.


7. Do you see your brother-in-law who died some time ago, and who was evoked last year? – A. I saw him when I arrived to the spiritual world. I don’t see him now.


8. Why don’t you see him anymore? – A. I know nothing about that.


9. Can your relatives do anything to please you? – A. My beloved ones should no longer be sad, despite their grief, since they know that I am not gone forever. May my memory be kind, light and fragrant to them! I passed away like a flower and there is nothing sad about my passage.


10. Where does your poetic language come from, considering the position you had when on Earth? – A. It is my soul that speaks. Yes, I had acquired knowledge and God often allows refined spirits to incarnate amidst the roughest people to make them foresee the kindness that they will one day understand and conquer.


OBSERVATION: Without such explanation that is both so logical and so in agreement with God’s solicitude to his children, we would hardly understand, at first sight, what could in principle seem like an anomaly. In fact, what can be more gracious and poetic than the language of the spirit of this young lady, raised in the middle of a very tough environment? The opposite is also frequently seen: inferior spirits incarnate among more advanced people, but with the opposite objective. God puts them in touch with a more enlightened world for their own advancement, while serving as trials to that world. Which other philosophy can solve these issues?


11. (Evocation of Mr. Gourdon, the oldest son, already evoked in 1860) – A. I am here.


12. Do you remember that you were evoked by us? – A. Yes, perfectly.


13. How come your sister-in-law no longer sees you? – A. She has moved up.


OBSERVATION: She had responded to the same question: “I know nothing about it”; it was certainly out of modesty. It is now explained: with her superior nature she belongs to a more elevated order of spirits, while he is still attached to Earth. They follow different paths.


14. What have you been doing since that occasion? – A. I made progresses in terms of the acquisition of knowledge, listening to the instructions of our guides.


15. Please, I ask you to provide a communication to your father who would be very happy with that. – A. My dear father, you must not think that your children are lost and don’t suffer by seeing their empty places. I also wait and don’t be impatient because I know that the passing days are other steps that need to be overcome, taking us closer to one another. Be grave but not sad since sadness is a mute criticism addressed to God, who wishes to be glorified in his work. In reality, why suffer in this sad life where everything vanishes, except our good or bad deeds? Dear father, be confident and have courage!



OBSERVATION: The first evocation of this young man was marked by the same feelings of filial piety and elevation. It was a huge consolation to his parents who could not get over his loss. That is totally understandable, as it is with the young lady.

Related articles

Show related items