This phenomenon, rooted in Old Testament times, has repeatedly changed its name: "summoning spirits", "necromancy", "mediumship". And only at the end of the 19th century all the "i" s were dotted here: then the word "spiritualism", which quickly became fashionable, arose
One of the first references to necromancy can be found in the Bible. It says that the Israeli king Saul, frightened by the invasion of the Philistines, summoned the spirit of the prophet Samuel with the help of the Endor sorceress in order to ask him for advice. The enraged Samuel, having appeared, severely reproached the king of the Jews for this godless ritual and predicted defeat and imminent death for Saul.
The tradition of invoking spirits has long pagan roots. In particular, among the Sumerians, Persians, Celts and northern peoples, it was customary for more than one and a half thousand years to refer to the spirits of their deceased ancestors, their ancestors. With special spells, the shaman or druid revived the image of a deceased tribesman, and then carefully listened to those sounds (barely audible whistle or whisper) that the summoned ancestor made.
The ancient Slavs and representatives of African tribes preferred to deal with the spirits of nature: water, fire, forests. Before the adoption of Christianity in the lands of the Slavs, the Magi were especially revered, who knew how to summon such powerful gods as Perun, Veles, Chernobog, Stribog or Semargl. Communication with these formidable representatives of the other world was very dangerous and for an inept sorcerer could even end in death. But in case of successful contact, the gods demanded an abundant sacrifice. Such a victim, as a rule, became "clean" animals (herbivores). But human sacrifices were considered especially effective, performed with a large gathering of tribesmen on pagan temples and sometimes turned into rampant orgies.
On pain of death
In many ways, it was this side of necromancy that eventually became the reason for the massive persecution of spirit spellcasters. Christianity, which replaced paganism, unleashed a real war against the spiritists in Europe, declaring the occupation of necromancy the most terrible and disgusting manifestation of black magic. The peak of the struggle of Christians against necromancers was the 17th century, after the infamous "Act of Witchcraft" was adopted in England in 1604. Following this document, almost until the end of the century, up to a hundred necromancers were annually burned there at the stake. Often innocent people were also suspected.
So, the chronicles of 1657 in the English town of Derby tell about a certain Elizabeth Barker, who for a week kept the body of her deceased husband in her house. On the denunciation of her neighbors, she was put on trial in the church, after torture she confessed that she was engaged in evoking the spirit of her late husband, and was executed. And only after some time had passed, witnesses were found who reported that the unfortunate widow did not have the means for a worthy burial of her husband and was waiting for the promised help from one of her distant relatives.
In Russia, the peak of the practice of necromancy fell on the dark times of the reign of John IV. The Tsar mercilessly punished sorcerers, warlocks and spirit spellcasters, however … he himself was not averse to engaging in spiritualism. According to information that has come down to our days, the interest in necromancy among the Russian tsar was awakened by the English adventurer, healer and astrologer Eliza Bomelius, with whom Ivan the Terrible more than once summoned the spirits of his ancestors - the princes of the Rurik family. During one of these sessions, the spirit of the late prince Svyatopolk the Accursed appeared to advise the tsar to create an oprichnina.
Popular sacrament
A new surge of enthusiasm for the ancient mystery of necromancy occurred in the middle of the 19th century, when the Frenchman Allan Kardek, who became interested in paranormal phenomena, after studying ancient necromantic manuscripts, deduced the basic postulates of modern spiritualism. It is believed that it was Kardek who began to use the round salon table for playing cards during the seances, around which the participants of the action sat. Such a ritual very soon received the name "table-turning", since during the summoning of spirits the table began to rotate. A. Kardek wrote several works: "The Book of Spirits", "The Book of Mediums" and "The Gospel in the Interpretation of Spirits", which today are the reference books of fans of table-turning.
In the second half of the 19th century, the enthusiasm for spiritualism spread to America, where mediums began to use the famous saucer with a drawn arrow and cards with letters as tools.
Since the 70s of the XIX century, spiritualism has penetrated into Russia. Summoning spirits is becoming a favorite pastime in aristocratic salons and even at the imperial court. It is known that in the 1890s the future Emperor Nicholas II summoned the spirit of Napoleon himself, who, alas, predicted an inglorious reign and a tragic death for him.
Stormy and dramatic events in the world in the first half of the 20th century somewhat diminished interest in exotic pastimes. True, there is information that Hitler, Mussolini and Roosevelt practiced experiments with summoning spirits, but reliable data about this have not been preserved.
And only from the 70s of the last century, the passion for spiritualism began to gain momentum again. He became especially popular among young people in France, Great Britain and the USA. In their sessions, neo-spiritualists, unlike their predecessors, actively used psychotropic substances, used elements of voodoo rituals and even Satanism.
Dangerous Experiments
In the last quarter of the 20th century, closed societies of spiritualists became widespread in the world. According to the Soviet state security agencies, similar organizations emerged in our country in the 1980s: in a number of Baltic cities, as well as in Moscow, Leningrad, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. Around the same time, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church began to sound the alarm about the passion for this godly deed, which, according to Orthodox priests, drove people to demonic possession and turned them away from Christianity. The church fathers explained that practicing spiritualism is inspired by evil spirits, and often a medium who believes that he is communicating with the spirit of a deceased person is in fact in contact with a demon.
In this regard, the events that happened to the resident of Krasnoyarsk Elena Ivanova (surname changed) in the mid-1990s became instructive. Then, after returning from a tourist trip to France, Elena was carried away by spiritualistic séances, to which she attracted her friends. Women first turned to the spirits of deceased relatives, then gradually moved on to famous historical figures.
One day, instead of a long-dead politician, a certain spirit came into contact with Elena, who introduced himself as Veleros, who for a very long time and seemed to willingly answer all the questions that a woman was interested in. After several days, mysterious sounds suddenly began to be heard in Elena's apartment: light tapping, the rustle of invisible clothing, creaking and sighing. They were especially intense at night. Soon, a ghostly male figure began to appear to the woman, which, as Elena later claimed, she saw even on the street, in public transport and at work, although none of the people who were nearby saw anything like this.
Six months later, Elena Ivanova was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic with a diagnosis of malignant schizophrenia. The spiritistic table, presented to Elena in France, was immediately destroyed by the unfortunate girlfriends and never returned to this exciting, but very dangerous occupation.
Sergey Kozhushko
Secrets of the XX century № 29 2011