In this September 1858 edition of RE, Kardec presents the case of Louis G., a shoemaker officer, who seven or eight months earlier had committed suicide at the door of his girlfriend, Victorine R., who was a seamstress of boots.

Once, Victorine R. and Louis G, who were already engaged, got into a deep argument for a trivial reason, to the point that Louis got up and promised never to return.

The next day, from cold head, the boy went to apologize, but was unsuccessful: Victorine R. refused to reconcile, despite her despair. 

After a few more days, thinking that his beloved would be reasonable, Louis went to try again to apologize, to which he was again rejected. At his beloved's door, he said to her: "Then farewell, you wicked one!" finally exclaimed the poor boy, “Farewell forever! Find a husband who wants you as much as I do!” – and plunged his shoemaker's knife into his chest, exhaling right there.

This article on the history of Louis G and Victorine R. appeared in Siècle on April 7, 1858.

Seeking to obtain moral teachings about the fact, on August 10, 1858 Kardec evokes São Luís:

1. ─ Does the girl, the unintentional cause of her boyfriend's death, have responsibility? ─ Yes, because I didn't love him.

Comment: This answer causes initial strangeness. Is anyone to blame for not loving someone else? Let's understand.

2. To avoid this misfortune, should she marry him, even though she did not love him? ─ She was looking for an occasion to part with him; did at the beginning of his call what he would have done later.

Comment: Here, St. Louis is saying that, sooner or later, she would separate from him, because, we understand, she didn't really love him.

3. ─ So the guilt consists in having nourished in him feelings that he did not share and that were the cause of the boy's death? ─ Yes. That's it.

4. In this case, your responsibility must be proportionate to the fault, which must not be as great as if it had intentionally caused death. ─ This is obvious.

Comment: Her “guilt” wasn’t so great because she didn’t actually want the other person’s misfortune. He just fed something that caused him suffering.

Observation: Remembering that "guilt" here is not something before an external judge, but before your own conscience. After all, it can be assumed that, since that moment, she must have carried some feeling of guilt because of the misfortune that happened to the boy.

5. Did Louis G.'s suicide find justification in the frenzy into which Victorine's obstinacy plunged him? - Yes, because his suicide, provoked by love, is less criminal in the eyes of God than that of a man who wants to get rid of life out of cowardice.

Comment: Here, when we talk about “crime in the eyes of God”, we need to understand that it was a neologism of the time. The “crime” is to impose a waste of time, perhaps with a great accumulation of suffering, due to the unconquered test. It is also important to remember two aspects: the first is that St. Luís is a Spirit who was, in his life, Catholic. The second is that, even if he doesn't bring concepts from Catholicism, he spoke as they could understand him.

Observation: By saying that this suicide is less criminal in God's eyes, evidently means that there is criminality, although less. The fault consists in the weakness that he did not know how to overcome. It is undoubtedly proof that he succumbed. Now, the spirits teach us that the merit lies in fighting victoriously against trials of all kinds, which are the essence of earthly life.

Here we have two problems to discuss. The first is to reinforce the knowledge brought by Spiritism, which presents its conclusions, without the intention of creating fantasies that try to subjugate through fear. Suicide, seen by many as something that will throw the soul into hell - whatever name is given to it - and even cause it to be born with deformations in the next life, in reality has different effects, depending on each being and each individual. situation.

Secondly, in no way is Saint Louis saying that suicide for love is a good thing: it is only more excusable, before one's own conscience, because it is practically a state of madness, whereas one who kills himself to escape life he almost always does it on his own, and it will cause him greater suffering when he discovers the truth.

Days later, Kardec evokes the Spirit of Louis G., the suicide, asking him the following questions:

1. ─ What do you think of the action that you performed? ─ Victorine is ungrateful. I was wrong to kill myself for her, because she didn't deserve it.

2. ─ So she didn't love you? ─ No. At first she thought so, but she was deluded. The scene I made opened his eyes. Then he was happy with this excuse to get rid of me.

3. - And did you love her sincerely? ─ I had passion for her. I believe it was just that. If I had loved her with pure love, I wouldn't have wanted to hurt her.

4. ─ If she had known that you really wanted to kill yourself, would she have persisted in refusing? ─ I don't know. I don't think so, because she wasn't evil. However, it would have been unfortunate. It was better for her.

We see that this Spirit reached an important conclusion, seeing that it killed itself for a passion. He understands that if he really loved her, he wouldn't have wanted to hurt her, that is, he wouldn't have committed an act so terrible as to shock her feelings so much.

Passion is a term that designates a very strong feeling of attraction to a person, object or topic. Passion is intense, enveloping, an enthusiasm or a strong desire for something. The term is also often applied to designate a lively interest or admiration for an ideal, cause, or activity. In the 19th century, psychology called passions what we now call emotions.

Who knows, in a new incarnation, a spirit like the one who committed suicide, for having found this lucidity, instead of planning a life of suffering as a form of punishment, could not choose tests and opportunities precisely to give himself the chance to learn to get rid of the passions, which often cast us into disgrace? How many murders, by the way, take place not out of hatred or evil thoughts, but simply by passions (today calls emotions)?

Continuing with the account of the evocation of the suicidal Louis G.:

5. ─ When you arrived at your door, did you have any intention of killing you, if you were refused? ─ No. Didn't even think about it. I didn't think she was so obstinate. It was only when I saw your stubbornness that I was taken by a vertigo.

6. ─ It seems that you only regret suicide because Victorine didn't deserve it. Is it your only feeling? ─ Right now, yes. I still feel disturbed. It seems to me to be at your door. But I feel something I cannot define.

7. ─ Will you understand later? ─ Yes, when I'm free... What I did was bad. I should have left her alone… I was weak and I suffer the consequences… As you can see, passion drives man to blindness and to make absurd mistakes.. He only understands when it's too lates.

8. ─ You said that you suffer the consequences. What penalty do you suffer? ─ I made a mistake by shortening my life. I shouldn't have done it. It should resist instead of ending everything prematurely. […]

Comment: he doesn't say that he was being gnawed by worms, nor that he was in a hellish region, nor that he was attached to the body, anything like that. In the disturbed state in which he found himself, his mind became attached to the fateful scene, the origin of his present moral sufferings, and it was in this that his thought became trapped. Well, we ourselves do this incarnate, every day.

 Here we have confirmed the state of “madness”, driven by passions, into which this man entered, who killed himself in a thoughtless act. How many suicides of this kind are there? They would be numbered in the thousands, if something was publicized. Unfortunately it is not. These suffer, as the Spirit of Louis G. suffered, because they understood that the thoughtless act cost them time and imposed suffering on others. Hence to say that this will lead them to spend years dragging themselves in the "valley of suicides" or that they will bring physical changes to the new incarnation because of this guilt, there is a great distance.

If you think about it, he doesn't even want to kill himself. it was an act of rage at the time. And we think that we should pay a lot of attention to the teachings of this article, because it is a global problem in our current society. The number of suicides has increased a lot. We see here the how urgent is it tame our passions.

Note: This account by Louis G. appears in the Book Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec.((1)) Book Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec, Editora FEAL, 2021, second part, chapter. V, pg. 337, the subtitle: Louis and the Shoe Seamstress.

In this article, we are going to deal with a medal that one of the readers of Revista Espírita bought with interesting and enigmatic details. First of all, it is important to present what the cabalism and esotericism

THE Kabbalah or Kabbalah (in Hebrew: קַבָּלָה; romanize.: Kabbalah or Qabbalâ;^{[nt 1]} literalmente: “receber/tradição”) é um método esoteric, discipline and school of thought at the jewish mysticism.^[1] The traditional Kabbalists of Judaism are called Mekubalim (Hebrew: מְקוּבָלים) or Maskilim (   משכילים; “initiates“). 

already the esotericism is the generic name that highlights a set of traditions and philosophical interpretations of doctrines and religions – or even of Initiatic Fraternities – that seek to convey a list of certain subjects that concern aspects of the nature of life in an esoteric, that is, occult way. . Only a certain part of people can have the teachings.

we see that cabalism, esotericism, mysticism and occultism, todas “Ciencias Esotéricas”, se confundem, hoje, num grande caldeirão. Não significa dizer que não tenham anything for real: it happens that the sages they knew, in their own way, the truth about spirits and mediumship, but kept the knowledge within a restricted circle, leaving a mystical and fantastic face to the people. There were few initiates...

In this article, Kardec presents the history of that medal, the talisman, that his reader, Mr. M., bought in an antique shop, which was sold as a Luck charm…

Luck charm: object to which its bearer attributes the magical power to fulfill his wishes; object when used that can provide magical power and/or enchantment.

Interrogating Ms. J., a sleepwalking medium, it was said that this medal had belonged to cazotte and who owned the special power to attract Spirits and facilitate evocations.

Mr. Caudemberg, author of a series of communications that he says he received, as a medium, from the Virgin Mary, told him that it was an evil object, suitable for attracting demons. Miss de Guldenstube, medium, sister of Baron of Guldenstube, author of a work on pneumatography, or direct writing, told him that the medal had a magnetic virtue and could provoke somnambulism.

Not being satisfied, Mr. M. presented this medal, asking for a personal opinion about it, at the same time asking that a superior Spirit could speak about the reality of the influence of this object. Here are excerpts from Kardec's answer:

“Spirits are attracted or repelled by thought and not by material objects, which have no power over them. At all times, superior spirits have condemned the use of signs and cabalistic forms, and every spirit that attributes any virtue to them or that intends to give them talismans that denote magic, thus reveals their own inferiority, whether when they act in good faith. and through ignorance, carried away by ancient earthly prejudices, with which he is still imbued, either when he consciously enjoys credulity, as a mocking Spirit. […] Whoever has studied the nature of spirits will not be able to rationally admit the influence of conventional forms on them, nor of substances mixed in certain proportions. It would be to renew the practices of the witches' cauldron, of black cats, of black chickens and other secret machinations.”

Who uses the medal, the talisman, effectively, will have an uncontrollable, magical, fantastic force, external to our senses? Are they effective? Is it just mysticism? Or is it just a mental trigger to remind us that spirituality is all around us? There are several statements regarding these tools, which many, many religions and sects use.

So objects can't have any power? Kardec continues:

“The same is not the case with a magnetized object, since, as is known, they have the power to provoke somnambulism or certain nervous phenomena on the body. organic economy”.

Now, is there support in the power of talismans, crystals, etc?

“But then, the virtue of such an object resides solely in the fluid with which it is momentarily impregnated and which is thus transmitted, indirectly, and not in the form, in the color, nor, above all, in the signs with which it may be overloaded. ”

Here, we are specifically talking about the influence about the Spirit – inclusive o encarnado. Se falarmos sobre a matter, then we cannot rule out the interference that material objects specifics may have about it. 

The central point of this discussion is: the object itself, like a color, a sign or a plant, has no magnetic power (speaking of magnetism, which is what acts on the perispirit). However, when used, even in an esoteric way (as always happened) by someone with magnetic power, they gain, momentarily, a “charge” of magnetism. 

Now, since today we have access to knowledge about magnetism (Magnetism and Spiritism, by Carlos Bernardo Loureiro; Mesmer: The Denied Science of Magnetism, by PHF) wouldn't it be more interesting to study this science, in order to increase its usefulness, no longer being attached to mysticism, which often hinders the understanding of truths and their practical use?

In other words: hypnosis works because of a magnetic power (to explain) of the hypnotist, who is a magnetizer (even if he doesn't know it). This theme has often been confused with occultism and magic.

What hypnotizes, after all, is not the clock that swings, but the magnetism from which it he can be impregnated, or from the magnetism direct from the magnetizer.

And Kardec follows:

“A spirit may say: “Draw such a sign and by it I will know that you call me, and I will come.” But in this case the traced sign is the expression of thought; it is an evocation translated in a material way. Now, whatever the nature of spirits, they do not need such means of communication. Superior spirits never use them. Inferior spirits can do it in order to seduce gullible people who want under their dependence.

General rule: For superior spirits form is nothing. thought is everything. Every spirit that attaches more importance to the form than to the background is inferior, and does not deserve any trust, even when, from time to time, say some good things, because good things are sometimes a means of seduction.

Such was, in general, our thinking about talismans, as a means of entering into a relationship with the Spirits. Needless to say, it also applies to other superstitiously employed means, such as preservatives from illness and accidents.”

Once again, the focus is to put aside mysticism to understand, for the reason, the mechanics of magnetism and thought. And that is faith: Jesus practiced it all the time. He said, "if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would move mountains" and, let's see: who you see the spiritist science and the science of magnetism, has a faith unshakable, to the point that, by the time these sciences were established, even the tables were moving.

Kardec, then, to complement the studies, evokes the Spirit of Saint Louis, asking for observations about the talisman in question. He answers:

"You do well not to admit that material objects can have any power over manifestations, either to provoke them or to prevent them..

Very often we have said that the demonstrations are spontaneous and that, moreover, we never refuse to respond to your call. Why do you think that we are obliged to obey a thing made by creatures??”

Q. ─ For what purpose was this medal made? ─ It was made with the aim of drawing the attention of people who might believe it; but only by magnetizers could it have been made with the intention of magnetizing and putting a sensitive to sleep. The signs are mere fantasy.

Q. ─ They say it belonged to Cazotte. Could we invoke him to give us some information about it? ─ It's unnecessary. Occupy yourselves before more serious things.”

Here, Kardec publishes the German-tomb conversation of the Schwabenhaus Password. She entered NDE days before she disincarnated. The article opens the field to, once again, talk about the phenomenon of ecstasy It's from sleep-walking, the former being a special class of the latter.

O ecstasy it is the state in which the independence of the soul, in relation to the body, manifests itself most sensitively and becomes, in a certain way, palpable.

At the dream and not sleep-walking, the soul wanders through earthly regions. In ecstasy, he penetrates an unknown world, that of ethereal Spirits, with whom he enters into communication […].

In the state of ecstasy, the annihilation of the body is almost complete. All that remains, one might say, is organic life. One feels that the soul is attached to it only by a thread, that one more tiny effort would break without remission.

Kardec, The Spirits' Book

“Many ecstatics are pawns of their own imagination and of mocking spirits who take advantage of the exaltation their. There are very few who deserve complete trust.”

The Mediums' Book, Kardec

444. What confidence can be placed in the revelations of ecstatics?

“The ecstatic is liable to be deceived very often, especially when he tries to penetrate what must remain a mystery to man, because then he lets himself be carried away by the current of his own ideas, or becomes the plaything of mystifying spirits, who take advantage of your enthusiasm to fascinate you.”

The Spirits' Book, Kardec

Briefly: Mrs. Schwabenhaus entered state cataleptic (or lethargic) and was judged dead. Then the funeral took place, while, in fact, she was in state of ecstasy and he glimpsed a whole consoling spiritual truth, together with his daughter, who died at the age of 7. it was you granted the gift of returning and saying goodbye to his loved ones, which he attended with extreme happiness. Shortly after, he definitively disincarnated. At the time, there was no knowledge about these states of the body.

At lethargy, the vital forces are dissipated and the body acquires the appearance of death, in a deep sleep. At catalepsy, this suspension of vital forces is sometimes localized. You lethargic and cataleptics they usually observe what is happening around them. The soul is aware of itself, but cannot communicate. It would be a near death.

Kardec evokes her on April 27, 1858 and clarifies some doubts, reinforcing the thesis of her ecstasy and other interesting points, in doctrinal agreement:

3. During your apparent death, did you hear what was happening around you and did you see the funeral apparatus? ─ My soul was very concerned about your coming happiness.

OBSERVATION: It is known that in general the lethargic see and hear what is going on around them and when waking up retain the memory. The fact that we portray offers the particularity of being lethargic sleep accompanied by ecstasy, which explains the diversion of the patient's attention.

5. ─ Can you tell us the difference between natural sleep and lethargic sleep? ─ Natural sleep is the rest of the body; the lethargic is the exaltation of the soul.

7. ─ How did your return to life take place?  ─ God allowed me to return to comfort the afflicted hearts around me.

8. ─ We would like a more material explanation.  ─ What you call perispirit still animated my earthly envelope.

OBSERVATION: It means to say that while the life of the body remains, the perispirit is connected to the cells. In OLE, we will see: 155. How does the separation of soul and body work? “The ties that held her are broken, she breaks free.” (it is the death of the body that causes the “exit” of the Spirit): a) – Does the separation occur instantly by a sudden transition? Is there a sharply drawn line of demarcation between life and death? "No; the soul gradually detaches, it does not escape like a captive bird that is suddenly restored to freedom. Those two states touch and confuse each other, so that the Spirit gradually breaks free from the bonds that bound it. These bonds are untied, not broken.”

Kardec comments on Ms. S., when he says that his daughter would be a pure Spirit. Of course it should be higher, but pure, here is relative.

In question 16, Kardec continues investigating the form by which spirits see each other. It is interesting how the response of a higher Spirit matches the response of the Spirit quoted in the article “The Drum of Beresina”, July 1858. Let us see Mrs. S.:

16. ─ Did you recognize her [the daughter] in any form? ─ I only saw her as Spirit.

In the article by Tambor de Beresina:

29. ─ How do you know that they are Spirits [the others you see]? ─ Among us, we see ourselves as we are.

32. ─ And do you see the other spirits with the forms they had in life? ─ No. We don't take on an appearance until we are evoked. Other than that, we are formless.

Question 31 (in the present article):

31. Since you have been here with the form you had on Earth, is it through the eyes that you see us? ─ No, the Spirit has no eyes. I only find myself in my last form to satisfy the laws that govern spirits when evoked and forced to resume what you call perispirit..

RE September /1858, Kardec

This affirmation of the evoked Spirit is one of the conclusions that Kardec reaches regarding the form of the Spirits:

88. Do spirits have a determined, limited and constant form?

“Not for you; for us, yes. The Spirit is, if you like, a flame, a flash, or an ethereal spark.”

a) – Does this flame or spark have color?

“It has a coloring that, for you, goes from a dark and opaque color to a brilliant color, like that of ruby, depending on whether the Spirit is more or less pure.”

Geniuses are usually represented with a flame or star on their foreheads. It is an allegory, which recalls the essential nature of Spirits. They place it on top of the head, because that is the seat of intelligence.

Book of Spirits, Kardec

Another cause of interest at the time, although it took place in 1572. O Saint Bartholomew's Night Massacreu or the night of Saint Bartholomew, was an episode, in the history of France, in the repression of Protestantism, engendered by the French kings, who were Catholics. These murders took place on August 23 and 24, 1572, in Paris, on St. Bartholomew's Day.[1] It is estimated that between 5,000 and 30,000 people were killed, depending on the attributed source.

Eight days after the São Bartolomeu Massacre, terrifying screams and groans were heard “in the air” by countless witnesses. The noise lasted about half an hour, then stopped. Himself King Charles IX he must have heard, for he looked somber, pensive, and wild.

Kardec brings the report only to demonstrate the similarity with the case of Mademoiselle Clairon (Feb/58) ee to demonstrate, once again, that the spiritist facts have always been in our history.

In this picture, which, if written in the Brazilian context, would probably be called “spiritist stories”, Kardec cites the cause reported by Patrie, on August 15, 1858:

an officer of French Directory(Name given to the Government of France), while traveling, he stayed in a hovel. During his sleep, he saw a terrible apparition: a “specter” that came out of the shadows, hair red with blood, throat cut, etc., came to him and gave him details of his own murder, indicating the place where his body was buried and the perpetrators of the crime. It evoked the officer's help to call the police and solve the case.

The officer did not listen, as he considered it to be his imagination. The next day, as he fell asleep, he had the vision of the Spirit again, this time more sad and threatening. He has ignored it again, the next day he saw the Spirit again, in sleep, now even more irritated and threatening. The officer thought it best not to ignore this time: he returned to the indicated place, called the officers and solved the case. This shows that this Spirit was very attached to material concepts, still, and that it had many imperfections, as it sought revenge.

Another apparition, this time with the contentment of the Spirit, more “kind” and affable. He said he would show himself again two hours before the officer's death, which he did years later.

Like all teaching, it is progressive. As humanity evolves its understanding changes. This article on Plato and Socrates is about that.

Remember the teachings of Last week's Sao Vicente de Paul? So, Saint Vincent de Paul spoke of the Gospel, that we should study it. Now, RE shows us something before Jesus, from the 5th and 4th century BC, from Plato and your mentor Socrates (remembering that it was Plato who wrote).

In the Spiritist Society, they had never imagined before:

“Today we will not discuss this theory, which was so far from our thinking when the Spirits revealed it to us, which surprised us strangely, because — we humbly confess — what Plato had written on this special subject was then completely unknown to us, new evidence, among others. so many others, that the communications given to us absolutely do not reflect our personal opinion. As for Plato's, we have only established the main idea, it being easy for each one to decide the form in which it is presented and to judge the points of contact that, in certain details, it may have with our current theory.

Kardec, Allan. Spiritist Magazine: first year: September/1858

The teachings of Socrates and Plato really carry the precepts of Jesus and are similar to those of the communicating spirits of Kardec's century.

In this article, RE presents as main ideas coming from Plato: the immortality of the soul, the succession of existences, the choice of existences as a result of free will, in short, the happy and unhappy consequences. Of course, Socrates, described by Plato, used parables to explain, because that was how they understood the lessons at that time. 

In his allegory of the Spindle of Necessity, Plato imagines a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, attributing to the former the speech of the RE, about the revelations of the Armenian Er, a fictional character, in all probability, although some take him for Zoroaster. worth reading.

Kardec presents the essence of an allegory by Plato, where a man would have had an NDE and came back telling “the other side”. It is very figurative, and it shows the idea of the Trial Choices before we reincarnate.

In these teachings, when Plato quotes the Daughters of Necessity, he is talking about divine laws. See what he says:

Passenger souls, you will start a new career and be reborn (reincarnate) in the mortal condition. Genius will not be pointed out to you; you will choose it yourself. You will choose the one that luck calls first, and that choice will be irrevocable. Virtue belongs to no one: it allies itself to those who dignify it and abandons those who despise it. Each one is responsible for the choice he makes, God is innocent.'

Kardec, RE September/1858

Then he goes on to describe how the rebirth takes place, which is very similar to what the Spirits in Kardec's times explain.

Therefore, each one is responsible for the choice! God is innocent in his free will!

In OLE, these issues are addressed in depth, as in  Part Two — On the Spiritist World or World of Spirits, Chapter VI — On the Spiritist Life, Choice of Evidence, as well as the questions 337 and 975. 

This RE article is Kardec's seed for the elaboration of the Gospel According to Spiritism (April 1864). in your introduction exposes the relationship with the ideas of Christianity and soon after the morals of Socrates and Plato.

Note: we also indicate this great video about the Morals of Socrates and Plato of the channel Spiritism for All

Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > June > Confessions of Louis XI – Extracted from the life of Louis XI.

Poisoning of the Duke of Guyenne

…I got busy after Guyenne. Odet d'Aidies, lord of Lescun, who had quarreled with me, was conducting the preparations for the war with marvelous vivacity. It was with great effort that I fed the bellicose ardor of my brother, the Duke of Guyenne. He had to fight a fearsome adversary in my brother's mind: Madame Thouars, lover of Charles, Duke of Guyenne.

This woman only sought to take advantage of the power she exercised over the young duke, in order to divert him from the war, for she was not unaware that the war was aimed at the marriage of her lover. His secret enemies had affected, in his presence, to praise the beauty and brilliant qualities of the bride. This was enough to persuade her that her doom would be certain if that princess were to marry the Duke of Guyenne. Certain of my brother's passion, she resorted to tears, prayers, and all the extravagances of a woman lost in such a situation. The fainthearted Carlos relented and communicated his new resolutions to Lescun. Lescun immediately warned the Duke of Brittany and the interested parties, who, in alarm, sent representations to my brother. These, however, had only the effect of plunging him back into his doubts.

However, the favorite managed, not without difficulty, to dissuade him again from war and marriage. From then on, the death of the favorite was decided by all the princes.

Fearing that my brother would attribute it to Lescun, whose dislike of Madame Thouars was known to him, they decided to win over Jean Faure Duversois, a Benedictine monk, my brother's confessor and abbot of Saint-Jean d'Angély. This man was one of the greatest supporters of the Lady of Thouars, and no one was ignorant of the hatred he felt for Lescun, whose political influence he envied. My brother was not likely to blame his mistress's death on him, for that priest was one of his most trusted favourites. Since only the thirst for greatness connected him to the favourite, he was easily corrupted.

For a long time I tried to seduce the abbot, but he always rejected my offers. However, it left me with the hope of achieving my goal.

He easily understood the situation he would get himself into by rendering the princes the service they asked of him, for he knew that it was not difficult for them to get rid of an accomplice. On the other hand, I knew my brother's fickleness and feared becoming his victim.

To reconcile his safety with his interests, he resolved to sacrifice his young lord. Taking such a side, he had as much chance of success as he had of failure. For the princes, the death of the young Duke of Guyenne must have been the result of a mistake or an unforeseen incident. Even when imputed to the Duke of Brittany and his cronies, the death of the favorite would have gone unnoticed, so to speak, since no one would have discovered the reasons that gave it real importance, from a political point of view.

Granting that they could be blamed for the death of my brother, they would have been exposed to the greatest dangers, for it would have been my duty to punish them severely. They knew that it was not good will that I lacked and that in that case the people might turn against them. Then the Duke of Burgundy himself, oblivious to what was going on in Guyenne, would have been forced to ally himself with me, on pain of being accused of complicity. Even in the latter case, everything would have worked out in my favor. I could have Charles the Bold declared a criminal of lèse majesty and have Parliament condemn him to death for the murder of my brother. Such condemnations, pronounced by that high court, always had great results, especially when they were of indisputable legitimacy.

It is easy to see what interest the princes had in handling the abbot. On the other hand, nothing is easier than getting rid of him in secret.

But with me, the abbot of Saint-Jean had a greater chance of impunity. The service he rendered was of the greatest importance to me, especially at that moment, because the formidable league that was being formed and of which the Duke of Guyenne was the center must infallibly lose me. The only way to destroy it would be the death of my brother, which represented my salvation. He aspired to the favour of Tristan the Hermit, thinking that by this means he would rise above him, or at least share my good graces and my trust in him. Moreover, the princes had been imprudent enough to leave in his hands undisputed proof of his guilt: they were several writings, and as they were written in very vague terms, it was not difficult to substitute the person of my brother for that of his favourite, designated there between the lines. By handing me these documents, he removed from me any doubt as to my innocence; for that reason, he avoided the only danger he ran on the side of the princes, and, proving that I was in no way involved in the poisoning, he ceased to be my accomplice and exempted myself from any interest in having him killed.

It remained to prove that he himself was not involved. This was a minor difficulty. To begin with, he was assured of my protection; afterwards, the princes had no proof of their guilt, and he could return the charges to them, by way of slander.

The Abbot agrees to practice poisoning

All in all, he sent me an emissary who pretended to have come spontaneously to tell me that the Abbe de Saint-Jean was unhappy with my brother. I immediately saw the full advantage I could make of such an arrangement and fell into the trap set by the astute abbot. Not suspecting that this man had been sent by him, I dispatched one of my trusted spies. Saint-Jean played his part so well that the emissary was deceived. Based on his report, I wrote to the abbot in order to win him over. He appeared to be very scrupulous, but I triumphed, albeit with some difficulty. He agreed to take charge of the poisoning of my young brother. I was so perverted that I didn't hesitate to commit this horrible crime.

Henri de la Roche, squire of the Duke's repostaria, was charged with preparing a peach that would be offered by the abbot himself to Mme. de Thouars while having lunch at my brother's table. The beauty of this fruit was remarkable. She caught the prince's attention and shared it with him. As soon as they had both eaten, the favourite felt violent pains in her bowels and soon expired in the midst of atrocious suffering. My brother experienced the same symptoms but with much less violence.

Perhaps it seems strange that the abbot should have used such a means to poison his young lord. In fact, the slightest incident could jeopardize your plan. It was, however, the only thing that prudence could authorize: it admitted the possibility of a mistake. Touched by the peach's beauty, it was only natural for Mrs. de Thouars to attract the attention of her lover and offer him half; he couldn't help but accept her and eat a little, even out of consideration. Assuming that he ate only a little bit, this would be enough to provoke the first necessary symptoms; a later poisoning could determine death, as a consequence of the first one.

The princes were seized with terror as soon as they learned of the dire consequences of the favourite's poisoning. They had not the slightest suspicion of the abbot's premeditation. They thought only of giving every appearance of naturalness to the young lady's death and her lover's illness. None of them took the initiative to offer a counter-poison to the unfortunate prince, for fear of compromising himself. Indeed, such an attitude would imply that the poison was known and, consequently, that someone was an accomplice to the crime.

Thanks to his youth and the strength of his temper, Carlos resisted the poison for some time. His physical sufferings did nothing but bring him back to his old projects with more ardor. Fearing that illness would lessen the zeal of his officers, he wanted them to renew their oath of allegiance. As he required them to engage in his service, against all odds, even against me, some of them, fearful of their death, which seemed at hand, refused to do so, and passed over to my court.

Conclusion

In the previous issue, we saw the interesting details given by Louis XI regarding his death. The fact that we have just reported is no less remarkable from the double point of view of history and the phenomenon of manifestations. In fact, we only had difficulties with the choice: the life of this king, as dictated by himself, is indisputably the most complete we have and, we can say, the most impartial. Louis XI's state of mind allows him today to appreciate things at their fair value. From the three chosen fragments, one can see how he makes his own judgment. He explains his politics better than any of his historians. He does not absolve himself of his conduct, and in his death, so sad and so vulgar for a monarch a few hours before all-powerful, he sees an anticipated punishment.

As a phenomenon of manifestations, this work offers a special interest. He proves that spiritist communications can enlighten us about history, as long as we know how to place ourselves in favorable conditions. We hope that the publication of the life of Louis XI, as well as that of Charles VIII, which has also been completed, will soon be placed alongside that of Joan of Arc.

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This article provides an important complement to the article “Imposter Spirits – The False Father Ambrósio”, from July 1858, which served as the basis for the article called “The role of the researcher and the medium in communications with the Spirits“. Click here to read.

In this edition, Kardec begins by addressing the problem of certain contradictions in spiritist communications: “At first glance these contradictions really seem to be one of the main stumbling blocks of the Spirit Science”

Remembering that Spiritism is a science, not a religion, for a few reasons:

• It is a development of Rational Spiritualism[1]
• It is, objectively, a positive science – an expression always used by Kardec – in the sense of a knowledge formed from the methods of observation and experimentation of the facts.
• It can only be seen as religion from the point of view of natural religion, as approached by the ER, and the “moral” aspect comes from precisely this same origin!

Kardec emphasizes that all science, in its beginning, has its contradictions, which only disappear as this science develops and one begins to understand what was not understood before.

“By the way, the Spirits always told us not to worry about these small differences and that in a short time everyone would be taken to the unity of belief. In fact, this prediction is realized daily, as we penetrate more and more into the causes of these mysterious phenomena and as the facts are better observed. On the other hand, the dissidences manifested at the origin evidently tend to weaken. It can even be said that currently they are nothing more than isolated personal opinions[2].”

"Although Spiritism is in Nature and has been known and practiced since the highest antiquity, it is a fact that at no other time was it so universally spread as it is today..

[…]

It was reserved for our century, in which progress receives an incessant impulse, to bring to full light a science which, so to speak, only existed in a latent state. It was only a few years ago that the phenomena were seriously observed[3]. In fact, Spiritism is a new science, which is gradually implanted in the minds of the masses, hoping to occupy an official position.
At first this science seemed very simple. To superficial creatures it was nothing more than the art of moving tables. A closer look, however, revealed that it was, in its ramifications and consequences, much more complex than had been imagined. Turntables are like Newton's apple, which in its fall ends the world system.

Kardec points out that, for each new discovery, multiple hypotheses arise, not necessarily wrong, as each one sees according to their conceptions and their knowledge and reasoning. Unity can only emerge in a science when it advances through the scientific method: if a hypothesis is shown to be incorrect by the evidence, it must be abandoned in favor of the truth.

On which side is the truth?

It's what fits to the future[4] to demonstrate. But the general trend could not waver. Evidently, a principle dominates and little by little unites the premature systems. A less exclusive observation will unite everyone to a common origin and soon we will see that the divergence will definitely be more accessory than fundamental.

The various spiritist theories have, therefore, two sources: some were born from the human brain; others were given by the Spirits. The first ones emanate from men who, trusting too much in their own lights, believe they have the key to what they are looking for, when more often than not they have only found a lockpick.fake key]. This is not surprising, but that, among the spirits, some said one thing and others said another, it was less conceivable. However, this is now perfectly explainable.

At first, there was an absolutely false idea of the nature of spirits. They were imagined as beings apart, of an exceptional nature, having nothing in common with matter and having to know everything. […] On the news of the recent manifestations, the first idea which generally came to the minds of most creatures was, that this was a means of penetrating all hidden things; a new mode of divination less subject to doubt than ordinary processes.

Remembering that Kardec analyzed with depth and attention all the manifestations and communications with which he had contact, from which he obtained the Spiritist Scale, from which a simple study that could save many from the difficulties they get into.

Based on a study carried out with a lot of rationality and common sense regarding the communications of the different Spirits, Kardec continues the long article giving simple examples of how Spirits of different orders and classifications express themselves. The whole contradiction arises from the failure to observe this fundamental point, in addition to the insistence on obtaining answers that cannot be given, to whose questions inferior spirits answer, without any scruples.

Kardec gives the example of the possibility that “one day” man will reach the Moon and, there, find its inhabitants: how could they know humanity through the reports of a few.

The causes of the contradictions in the language of spirits can therefore be summarized as follows:

1st. ─ The degree of ignorance or knowledge of the Spirits to whom we address;

2nd. ─ The deceit of inferior spirits who can, through malice, ignorance or malevolence, taking a borrowed name, say things contrary to those that were said elsewhere by the Spirit whose name they usurped;

3rd. ─ The medium's personal faults, which can influence communications and alter or deform the spirit's thinking;

4th. ─ The insistence on obtaining an answer that a spirit refuses to give, and that is given by an inferior spirit;

5th. ─ The Spirit's own will, which speaks according to time, place and people and may not think it convenient to say everything to everyone;

6th. ─ The insufficiency of human language to express the things of the incorporeal world;

7th ─ The interpretation that anyone can give to a word or an explanation, according to their ideas, their prejudices or the point of view from which they view the matter.

There are many difficulties, which can only be overcome through long and assiduous study. We also never said that Spiritist Science is easy. The serious observer, who delves into everything maturely, with patience and perseverance, apprehends a lot of delicate nuances that escape the superficial observer. It is through such intimate details that he initiates himself into the secrets of this science. Experience teaches us to know spirits, as it teaches us to know men.

---

1 – Since 1832, at the Sorbonne University, Paris, the school of rational spiritualism has established itself as official philosophy, structuring the human sciences, which in France are called moral sciences. Moral because the object of their study are the facts derived from human action; sciences such as history, law, philosophy, letters, among others. Differing from the natural sciences, which are dedicated to the phenomena of nature.

Among the moral sciences, there was the group of philosophical sciences, with the proposal to understand the human being, through the following disciplines, divided into two classes: psychological (psychology, logic, moral, aesthetics) and metaphysical (theodicy, rational psychology, rational cosmology). (FIGUEIREDO, 2019)

2 – Same as today. Only by the honest scientific method will these contradictions, which have been widely installed in the spiritist movement, be able to be dissipated.

3 – The confidence of nineteenth-century researchers in the power of science to describe reality led to the investigation, through the observation of mediumistic phenomena, of the modern spiritualism (the study of the works of Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo largely complement this theme). Many scholars and freethinkers, based on the observation of the turning, dancing and talking tables, began to consider the possibility of scientifically investigating the post-mortem survival of the human being. (PIMENTEL, 2014 – click to read).

Kardec has his first contact with Spiritism in 1854, when a friend of yours, the magnetizer Auguste Fortier reports that the “magnetic fluid” employed by a magnetizer was now causing the tables to move. Kardec receives the news with disinterest, as he supposed that the magnetic or electric fluid could explain the phenomenon.

Months later, Mr. Fortier sought him out again, this time to say that the tables didn't just move, but they responded intelligently to the questions of the assistants. Kardec, skeptical, still saw it as a “tale to make us sleep standing up”.

About a year later, in 1855, another friend, Mr. Carlotti, speaks for the first time of the intervention of the Spirits in the sessions. This friend's enthusiastic statement increased Kardec's distrust. It was after some time, in the same year, that Mr. Pâtier, an educated man, serious, calmly and coldly, convinced Rivail to attend a mediumistic session.

“Using his vast erudition, as a professor, writer and member of several scientific societies, he carried out a broad approach to the cause of psychic phenomena arising from the turning tables. Kardec proposed an empirical and rational approach to the subject, until then, considered metaphysical, in which several pertinent discussions were produced on epistemological and methodological aspects of exploration of mediumistic phenomena” (Ibid.)

4. Let's see Kardec's humility, which Never He said, “The truth is with me.”

Today and then, many disdain mentions of dwellings on other planets, such as Jupiter. We may have scorned the descriptions of tables running around the room before. Honestly, it is only when we refer to Science that we cannot deny what is presented in a clear, lucid and rational way.

This article is one of the letters received from Victorien Sardou regarding Jupiter.

"If here, in likelihood of explanations, the reader does not find sufficient proof of their veracity; if, like us, you are not surprised by the perfect agreement between these revelations of the Spirits and the most positives of Astronomy; If, in a word, you see nothing more than a skillful mystification in the details that follow and in the drawing that accompanies them, I invite you to explain yourself to the Spirits, of whom I am only a faithful echo and instrument”.

The author invites critics to evoke the Spirits themselves and discuss with them.

Sardou follows the article by giving some descriptions about the dwellings and inhabitants of Jupiter. According to him - and whose source of information is, of course, the Spirits - the bodily conformation of these beings would be like that of a vapor, although much more subtle than that, intangible and luminous, especially in the contours of the face and head, "for there intelligence and life radiate like a very burning focus”.

It is from this vision, says Sardou, that Christian visionaries would have drawn the images of the halos of the saints.

According to him, the Spirits on this planet are incarnated in such subtle matter that they move very quickly and easily detach themselves from the planetary attraction (gravity), according to the action of their own will.

“Thus, some characters that Palissy chose to make me draw are represented as skimming the ground or on the surface of the water or still very high in the air, with all the freedom of action and movement that we attribute to the angels. This locomotion is all the easier the more purified the Spirit is., which is easily understood. Thus, nothing is easier for the inhabitants of the planet than to determine, at first glance, the value of a passing Spirit. Two signs betray him: the height of his flight and the more or less brilliant light of his halo.“

Sardou says that the less advanced Spirits of this planet, when evoked, respond in a laconic way and with a certain haste, as if they had a lot to do: they still don't have the power to radiate themselves simultaneously on two points.

Regarding animals, he says that not even the inhabitants of Jupiter present consensus about their Spirits: if they are Spirits apart or if they are Spirits that will one day reach humanity... It seems to be an enigma for spheres. above of Jupiter. 

Be that as it may, he points out that these Spirits came from other inferior planets, where they spent multiple incarnations, passing through a scale of improvement.

On Jupiter, animals are the only working beings, working on construction and even planting and harvesting. They are not sacrificed, because we already know that everyone there is vegetarian.

From then on, Sardou – or, rather, the communicating Spirit – continues weaving a series of descriptions incredible about the city of Julnius, about how it was formed, etc. He says that there are material parts of cities, on the ground, and diaphanous and flying parts, moved by will, which serve as shelter for human beings on this planet.

Sardou writes that Jupiter, according to the Spirits, has a day and a night, both lasting five hours. Today's data points out that, in fact, they are just over nine hours each.

It is on the right bank of that river, “whose water, says the Spirit, would give you the impression of the consistency of a very light vapor” [we know, today, that there are true rivers of ammonia, from the highest to the most low atmospheres], that the house of Mozart is built, whose design Palissy was kind enough to have me reproduce on copper.

Finally, the article is of general interest. Kardec emphasizes Sardou's honesty and seriousness, noting that Spiritism “does not recruit among fools and ignorant people”.

Kardec takes up the subject of the engravings, reproduced by the medium Victorien Sardou, who, according to Kardec, does not know how to draw or record, about Jupiter's dwellings.

"Even assuming that this drawing is a fantasy of the Spirit that traced it, the mere fact of its execution would not be a phenomenon less worthy of attention. […] not to satisfy the curiosity of frivolous people, but as a subject of study for serious people who want to delve into all the mysteries of Spirit Science” – As far as is known, only through Sardou were these drawings obtained.

It would be a mistake to think that we make the revelation of unknown worlds the main object of the doctrine. This will never be for us more than one accessory, which we consider useful as a complementary study; the main thing will always be for us the moral teaching and communications from beyond the grave we will seek above all that which can enlighten Humanity and lead it to the good, the only way to assure you of happiness in this world and in the next.