The Book On Mediums - Important Concepts Developed or Introduced in This Book

Important Concepts Developed or Introduced in This Book

The Book on Mediums repeats, develops and extends into detail some broad concepts about Spirits found in the Spirits' Book. It also introduces some new ones.

• Perispirit: The Perispirit, a semi-material envelope (or body) which is the link between pure spirit and pure matter. Such envelope is called Perispirit (from Greek, meaning Outer Spirit or Around the Spirit) and is renewed each time a spirit reincarnates. The perispirit has roughly the same appearance of the spirits' last incarnation and is what we actually see in apparitions.
• Serfdom in the Spirit World: Lower spirits, especially those in penance are often hired by higher spirits as their apprentices or even serfs. Weak spirits of low morals may be even enslaved by strong, evil others, especially if they were enemies when incarnated.
• The cause of Poltergeists: The perturbation popularly named poltergeist is caused by an evil or clueless spirit taking advantage of an untrained natural medium. If the medium learns how to control his/her powers he will not be disturbed by it. Sometimes the medium loses his/her powers after puberty.
• Mind over matter: Spirits are capable of moving, transporting, dematerialising and rematerialising inanimate objects, with the help of mediums
• Instrument or Medium?: Throughout the book Kardec used both terms interchangeably, but he prefers to use instrument instead of medium when talking to spirits.
• Sleep is the emancipation of the mind: While we are asleep our spirit loosens its ties to matter and wanders the spiritual world. Because of it, it is theoretically possible -- although uncommon -- to see the spirit of a living person as an apparition.
• Sometimes it is just an illusion: Kardec admits that often people who report apparitions or poltergeist are victims of delusion, hallucination or are just lying.
• The spiritual world is a mirror of the material world, except for the lower spirits (for whom it is something not unlike hell) or the higher ones (for whom it is ideal, immaterial).
• Haunted houses are haunted all the time, not only at night: But it is much easier to hear and to see spirits when it is quiet and dark.
• Because spirits are of varied degrees of knowledge and morality, their communications are also diverse, ranging from inane, stupid, common-place, common sense, elevated but lacking originality to name a few. Only a small portion of the communications are worth keeping record of. Technically, nothing prevents a spirit from producing communications of pornographic nature, if he/she is so inclined. The only way to select the quality of communication is by sympathy: spirits are drawn by similar tastes, so each medium will attract spirits that share his interests or know his weaknesses.
• There are different types of mediums, as many as the different types of phenomena spirits can produce. A few mediums can produce more than one type of phenomenon, in that those who see/hear cannot produce physical effects, those who write cannot see, and so on. The most common types are: physical effects, seer, hearer, psychographer, sensitive, incorporative (talkative), sleepwalking, healer and intuitive.
• Mediumship can be tiring, painful or even downright dangerous to the health of the body or of the mind.
• Most mediums are under the risk of being overwhelmed by evil spirits and made their puppets. The only way to prevent this is to lead a moderate and ethical life.
• Kardec's technique for perfecting psychographic mediumship is strikingly similar to what most creative writing teachers tell their students.
• No medium can produce phenomena at will, but only when some spirit is willing to.
• Animals are mediums too: they can see spirits, hear them or even be haunted by them.
• A large amount of the evil that exists in the world is the work of lower evil spirits that obsess the minds of the weak of will.