Robyn Lebron In the beginning, communication with the spirits presented by means of human channeling was too slow and cumbersome, so a new one was devised, supposedly from a suggestion by the spirits themselves— the talking board The energy channeled from the spirits through their hands made the board spin around and find letters which, once written down by a scribe, would form intelligible words, phrases, and sentences The system was an early, and less effective, precursor of the boards that later became so popular.7 Allan Kardec first became interested in Spiritism when he learned of the Fox sisters, but his first contact with w hat would become the doctrine was by means of talking boards Experience had shown that the Spirit who acted upon an unanimated body could in the same way control the arms or the hands and leads the pencil Writing mediums then appeared, that is, people who could write in an involuntary manner under the impulse of the Spirits, being their interpreters and instruments Thenceforth the communications had no limits, and the exchange of thoughts was as fast and easy as among the living.8 The phenomenon spread from the United States to the rest of Europe, where for several years, it became a popular and even fashionable form of entertainment for many curious observers Despite its popularity, however, Spiritism was not without its many critics Materialists, who believed only in the visible and tangible, and had no belief in life after death, would not even consider the idea of invisible Spirits and mocked those who did believe, calling them madmen Some critics admitted the physical effects but attributed them to the devil; which had the effect of scaring some and exciting others (The Roman Catholic Church still maintains that people shouldn’t open the door to spirits as you never know whom you will let in They consider it very dangerous.) “Foreseeing the vast importance, to science and to religion, of such an extension of the field o f human observation, ( Kardec) entered at once upon a careful investigation of the new phenomena A friend of his had two young, giggly daughters who had become what are now called “mediums.”9 Whenever Kardec “was present, the messages transmitted through these young ladies were of a very grave and serious character; and on his inquiring of the invisible intelligences, he was ~ 200 ~