-
Origin
Spiritualism was first introduced in 1840 in upstate New York where many religions were being introduced because many people in this area believed it was possible to communicate with a higher power. -
Period: to
Spirituality
-
Beginning of their movement
On March 31st, two women from New York claimed to have made contact with a spirit of a murdered peddler who was said to communicate through rapping noises. After this day, Spiritualists marked this date as the "beginning of their movement". -
Spirit Rappings
The song "Spirit Rappings" came out and the idea of spiritualism started to become more popular amongst the public. -
Witchcraft
A few years after the "Spirit Rappings", as spirituality started to gain more attention, there were some that believed Spirituality was a form of witchcraft. This was believed by many Christians and they even went as far as to say that the Civil War was caused by spiritualism. -
Credibility
At this time, the credibility of Spirituality was questioned because there were accusations of fraud as well as other crimes. -
Spiritualists' National Federation
In 1890, this federation was created and it was seen as a conference of people who discussed and debated for the better of spirituality. -
Spiritualist Church
One of the first and oldest spiritualist churches is the National Spiritualist Association of Churches and it was founded in Chicago. -
Followers
By this time, Spirituality was said to have more than 8 million followers in the U.S as well as Europe. Most of these followers were members of the upper and middle classes. -
Principles
In 1899, a six-article declaration of principles for spirituality was made by the NSA (national spiritualist association). -
New additions
By this time, there were 3 new additions to the declaration of principles and those were the final additions to the declarations. -
The fraudulent Mediums Act
The fraudulent mediums act was made in 1951 and it made it illegal for people to pretend to be spiritualistic in order to get money. -
The consumer protection from unfair trading regulations
The fraudulent mediums act was repealed in April of 2008 and it's said that fraudulent mediums are now covered by the consumer protection legislation which was passed in the same year. -
Spiritualism Today
Today, many believe that spirits can communicate with the living and provide a sense of direction. Many today believe in spiritualism and they incorporate certain practices in their day-to-day activities.