The Book on Mediums or Mediums and Evokers' Handbook (a.k.a. The Mediums' Book —Le Livre des Médiums, in French), is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the philosophy Kardec had been publishing — being the tome in which the experimental and investigative features of the doctrine were presented, explained and taught.
Scope
It is intended to be an actual handbook for would-be mediums, containing doctrine and practices that one must master in order to become a medium, an elementary course on theories and basic methods to assess the new light that had never been tried by rational inquiry before: the interaction of the physical and spiritual worlds.
The Book on Mediums set the bases and the terminology that guided Parapsychology and Paranormality for quite sometime. In its pages one will find a classification of paranormal phenomena, with a special focus on those capable of communicating messages, and thorough descriptions of the mechanisms that — according to Spiritism — were involved. It also contains serious warnings against unguided use of the gift of mediumship, especially without the necessary seriousness.
Contents
The book's signature is its focus on theory instead of practice: not a single line of ritual is given (Spiritists believe all rituals are superfluous), unless one consider recommendations for prayer (without giving formulae) as "ritual". In its first part, there is an overall introduction to the fundamental points of Spiritism. The following topics are examined within the book:
First Part (Preliminary Topics)
This part appears to contain a defense of Spiritism on empiric and logical grounds.
Are there spirits? The difference between the extraordinary and the supernatural (with the apt conclusion that most things seen as supernatural are only extraordinary but natural phenomena). How to reason against those who, for several types of reasons, will not believe Spiritism. Exposition of the fallacies of most explanations of Spiritism. Cautionary exposition of some views of Spiritism that bordered on fanaticism, Obscurantism, polytheism or charlatanism.
This last aspect shows that ever since the beginnings of Spiritism there were "deviant" groups with a different interpretation, some of which tried to identify themselves with the term Spiritism, which Kardec claimed to be an original term created by him to avoid such confusion.
Second Part (Manifestations of Spirits)
This part first describes and categorises the kinds of phenomena that are related to spirits, like:
Production or modification of matter
Table-turning
Incorporation of spirits
Haunted houses
Transfiguration
Apparition
Psychography
Psychophony
Telekinesis, which Kardec knew as Poltergeist
Then it goes into explaining how to deal with the intelligent manifestations ("communications"). It is noteworthy that very little is "taught" on how to produce the spiritist phenomena, as in Kardec's view these were natural and spontaneous. Kardec regards as more important the correct understanding and the tight control of conditions during and after the phenomeon took place. He thought it was wiser that the would-be medium knew what to expect and how to behave before he was given any instructions on how to engage on evocation. There were, apparently, some cases of mania or personality disorder related to prolonged infatuation with Spiritism, which he was careful to advise how to avoid.
Among the main advice we find:
Do not believe the spirit to be who he purports to be unless there is evidence supporting his claim, but even then, wait until others confirm what one has said. Do not judge the spirits by their purported names, but by the quality of the morals and the philosophy found in their communications. Do not let yourself too entertained with the evocation or incorporation of spirits enough to disregard what is more important, like living your own life and helping your neighbour. Do not live by the spirits' advice: the communications from the spirits are to be studied and revered — but they should not be taken as the word-by-word expression of the ultimate truth. Do not judge the quality of the communication by the culture or the social status of the medium by which it was brought.
In the final chapters Kardec present the rules and the statutes of the Spiritist Society he had helped found in Paris, which he hoped could be useful as models to other societies worldwide.