The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1864

Allan Kardec

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The order given to Mr. Home by the pontifical authorities to leave Rome in three days had been initially retracted as we saw in our last number. Nonetheless and as fear is not dominated it had been revoked. The right to stay had been definitely denied and Mr. Home had to leave at once under the accusation of witchcraft.

It is worth mentioning that the raps and lifting of tables during his questioning and that we had announced with reservation since we were not certain about it are accurate. That should have added to the belief that Mr. Home had brought the devil along to Rome where, as it seems, he had never been before. There we have him duly found guilty by the Roman government, guilty for being a witch but not those that make people laugh, a real witch or on the contrary they would not have taken him so seriously.

We read the interrogatory to which he was submitted and by the type of questions it involuntarily took us back to the times of Joan of Arc. It came short of the common conclusion for that type of accusation in those days. The teasing papers are surprised that people still believe in witchcraft in our days. That is because there are people that like Epimenides[1] have been sleeping for four centuries.

As a matter of fact how could the people not believe when its reality is attested by the very authority that must know him better and had also sent so many to be burnt at the stakes? It is necessary to be skeptical like a journalist to not acknowledge such positive truth.

What is even more remarkable is that they bring back the witches reviving them in the Spiritists, the ones that bring the proofs in their hands that there aren’t witches or wonders but just natural laws.




[1] Epimenides of Knossos (Crete) was a semi-mythical 7-6th century BC Greek seer and philosopher-poet believed to have fallen asleep for fifty-seven years in a Cretan cave that was sacred to Zeus, after which he reportedly awoke with the gift of prophecy (TN, Wikipedia).


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