Archives of Spiritism in Italy
The Spiritist Society of Turin initiated a monthly publication with the title above from which we received the two first issues. The eminently serious objective of that Society as well as the talent and enlightenment of the members allow us to have great expectations for the future of this new organ of the Doctrine.
Thanks to that and since it is written in their national language Spiritism will walk its way in Italy where it already counts on many sympathizers. The Society and its journal have clearly taken the flagship of the Parisian Society. The following passage translated from their first number is a kind of profession of faith that clearly states the Spirit that presides over the publication.
“Therefore those that wish to dedicate to the study of Spiritism must begin, before the experiments, by reading the works that handle the issue and study them thoughtfully to avoid acting like the traveler that traveled to an unknown land without guides or advices taking the risk of getting lost in every step of the way. Since others have leveled the terrain reason requires that they enlighten themselves by the study so that they can distinguish between the good and the bad Spirits and how to behave to free themselves from the latter ones and not become victims of their trickeries or the bad consequences that result from that.
The books written in French by a tireless and wise Spiritist, Mr. Allan Kardec, are highly recommended, books that we don’t know what to praise the most if the equity of the intent, the highest philosophy or the clarity of the explanations. Among the works the first to be read are The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. The first one contains the philosophical doctrine revealed by the superior Spirits, as the author says, and the second contains a comprehensive treaty about the practice of Spiritism and the way to acquire, if possible, the mediumistic faculty. None of those works, however, was translated to the Italian and even if they could be analyzed by everybody their reach would be an obstacle to many. The author himself felt that and that is why he summarized the essential part of The Spirits’ Book in a little brochure entitled: Spiritism in its simplest expression that was translated to our language and published in Turin. One can say that the translation circulated the whole peninsula and a large number of books sold in every Italian city. But since the author did not publish a summary of The Mediums’ Book and in hopes that the complete book be translated into Italian, we had the idea of publishing a summary ourselves that although not comparable to one by Allan Kardec it at least contains the first aid kit of warnings for those that are willing to dedicate to the study of practical Spiritism. We hope it will be good enough to initiate the path that will be needed to be covered to be able to successfully establish a relationship with the good Spirits and keep the inferior and bad ones away. Studied with purity of feelings Spiritism can become a source of the sweetest consolations to every good person that longs for progress.”
A new journal has just appeared in Bordeaux, with the title: “The savior of the peoples, journal of Spiritism, propagator of the fraternal unity.” General Manager: A. Lefraise. It is a weekly publication.
The title promises a lot and imposes great obligations for today the etiquette is no longer enough. We shall remind them after appreciating the way they justify things. If it is here to bring a useful stone to the edifice; it is comes to unite, as it says, instead of breaking apart; if guided by true charity in words and actions towards their fellow believers; if the controversy with the adversaries of our doctrine does not go beyond the limits of honesty and moderation it will be welcome and we will gladly encourage and support it.
A new work of Mr. Allan Kardec more or less of the same extension of The Spirits Book is in preparation to be released in December. It should have been published in February but involuntary delays in printing and the care that it requires did not allow so. Everything leads to believe that we will be able announce the publication in the next issue of the Review. It should replace the book announced under the title: The voices of the invisible world, whose primitive plan was radically modified.
