Spiritism Glossary: Key Terms Explained

Afterlife

Definition: The continuation of conscious existence after physical death.

Explanation: In Spiritism, death is not the end of the person. The soul survives the body, keeps its individuality, and returns to the spirit world, where it continues to think, feel, remember, learn and progress.

In Spiritism: The afterlife is not a static reward or punishment. It is a real spiritual condition that reflects the moral and intellectual state of the spirit. Happiness or suffering after death is connected to conscience, attachment, repentance, reparation and spiritual progress.

See also: Future Life, Death, Spirit World, Erraticity.

Agenerate

Definition: A historical Spiritist term for a type of tangible apparition that can temporarily appear with the form and appearance of a living person.

Explanation: In classical Spiritist vocabulary, an agenerate is not a person born in the ordinary physical way. The term was used mainly in the nineteenth-century context of studies on apparitions and tangible manifestations, and it is rarely used in ordinary language today.

In Spiritism: Agenerate phenomena belong to the study of apparitions and the properties of the perispirit. They should be examined with prudence and discernment, not as fantasy, superstition or proof to be accepted without serious examination.

Agnosticism

Definition: The view that the existence of God, the soul or the spiritual world is unknown or cannot be known with certainty.

Explanation: Agnosticism differs from atheism. It does not always deny spiritual reality, but suspends judgment because it considers the evidence insufficient, unclear or beyond human knowledge.

In Spiritism: Spiritism responds to agnosticism by proposing that the spiritual world can be studied through reason, moral reflection and the observation of spirit manifestations. It does not ask for blind belief, but for serious examination without prejudice.

Angel

Definition: A highly evolved or pure spirit.

Explanation: Spiritism does not treat angels as a separate creation. Angels are spirits who have reached a very high degree of moral and spiritual perfection through progress.

In Spiritism: Angels are perfected spirits. They are not beings created apart from humanity, but spirits who have advanced through divine law, free will, experience and moral purification.

Animism

Definition: In mediumship, phenomena or expressions that come from the medium’s own spirit rather than from an external spirit.

Explanation: A medium may unconsciously express personal thoughts, memories, emotions or inner impressions while believing that they come from another spirit. This can occur without deliberate fraud.

In Spiritism: Animism is not necessarily falsehood. It is a natural factor in mediumistic practice and requires study, humility and discernment. Serious Spiritism seeks to distinguish personal influence from genuine spirit communication.

Apparition

Definition: A visible manifestation of a spirit.

Explanation: In Spiritism, apparitions are explained through the action of the spirit’s fluidic envelope, called the perispirit. Under certain conditions, this envelope may become visible and, in rare cases, tangible.

In Spiritism: Apparitions are not treated as fantasy or miracle in the supernatural sense. They are considered possible manifestations governed by spiritual and fluidic laws, and they must be examined with prudence and reason.

See also: Perispirit, Bi-corporeity, Materialization.

Astral Body

Definition: A term used in several esoteric traditions for a subtle body associated with the soul or consciousness.

Explanation: The expression “astral body” is not a central Kardecist term. It is often used in occult, theosophical or New Age contexts to describe a non-physical vehicle of the person, which is why Spiritism normally avoids the word “astral” in its technical vocabulary.

In Spiritism: The closest Spiritist concept is the perispirit, but the two terms should not be treated as identical without qualification. Spiritism uses “perispirit” to describe the semi-material envelope of the spirit and its role as the link between the spirit and the physical body.

Atheism

Definition: The absence or rejection of belief in God or deities.

Explanation: Atheism may take different forms, from simple lack of belief to a firm denial of any divine or spiritual reality. It is often connected with materialist interpretations of life and consciousness, though not all atheists define themselves in the same way.

In Spiritism: Spiritism affirms God as the Supreme Intelligence and First Cause of all things. It sees atheism and materialism as incomplete explanations of conscience, moral law, spiritual identity and the purpose of life.

Beatitude

Definition: The state of spiritual happiness experienced by purified and morally advanced spirits.

Explanation: Beatitude is not passive idleness or eternal inactivity. In Spiritism, true happiness comes from inner harmony, freedom from selfish passions, knowledge of divine law and useful service in the good.

In Spiritism: Beatitude is proportional to the spirit’s moral and intellectual progress. The more a spirit becomes purified, humble, loving and useful, the more it participates in the peace and joy of higher spiritual life.

Bi-corporeity

Definition: A phenomenon in which a living person appears to be present in two places at the same time.

Explanation: Bi-corporeity, sometimes compared with bilocation, is explained in Spiritism through the emancipation of the soul and the properties of the perispirit. The physical body remains in one place, while the spirit may appear elsewhere through its fluidic envelope.

In Spiritism: Bi-corporeity belongs to the study of apparitions of living persons. It should be approached carefully, without sensationalism, and understood as an exceptional phenomenon governed by spiritual and fluidic laws.

The Spirits’ Book

Definition: The foundational work of Spiritism, published by Allan Kardec in 1857.

Explanation: The Spirits’ Book presents the basic principles of the Spiritist Doctrine through questions and answers concerning God, spirits, the soul, reincarnation, moral law, the spirit world and the future life.

In Spiritism: This book is the doctrinal foundation of Kardecist Spiritism. It should be read as a philosophical and moral work, not merely as a collection of isolated spirit messages.

Body

Definition: The temporary material envelope used by the spirit during corporeal life.

Explanation: In Spiritism, the human being is understood through the relationship between spirit, perispirit and body. The spirit is the intelligent and immortal being; the perispirit is its semi-material envelope; the physical body is the instrument that allows experience in the material world.

In Spiritism: The body dies, but the spirit survives. Physical life is valuable because the body gives the spirit opportunities for work, relationship, trial, learning and moral progress that would not occur in the same way outside incarnation.

Cause and Effect

Definition: The principle that every action, thought and moral choice produces consequences.

Explanation: Cause and effect is not a mechanical punishment system. It is the moral order through which spirits learn from what they create, repair what they damage and gradually understand the consequences of their freedom.

In Spiritism: This principle is often compared with karma, but Spiritism explains it through divine justice, free will, repentance, reparation and progress. No one is condemned forever, but no one escapes the educational consequences of their choices.

Charity

Definition: Active love for others expressed through goodness, understanding, forgiveness and help.

Explanation: In Spiritism, charity is much broader than giving money or material assistance. It includes patience, compassion, moral support, indulgence toward others’ weaknesses and sincere goodwill.

In Spiritism: Charity is one of the clearest signs of moral progress. It is not merely an external act, but a transformation of the heart that reduces pride, selfishness and indifference.

Clairvoyance

Definition: The claimed ability to perceive information, persons, places or events beyond the ordinary physical senses.

Explanation: In spiritual and psychical contexts, clairvoyance is often connected with visions, intuitive perception or the perception of realities not normally visible. The term is broad and may refer to different phenomena, while second sight is a more classical Spiritist expression often linked to the emancipation of the soul.

In Spiritism: Spiritism approaches clairvoyant phenomena with caution. Some perceptions may be connected with mediumship, second sight, emancipation of the soul or the action of spirits, but discernment is always necessary to avoid imagination, illusion or exaggeration.

Communication with Spirits

Definition: The possibility of interaction between incarnate human beings and discarnate spirits.

Explanation: This term answers the common human question of whether the dead can communicate with the living. In Spiritism, such communication may occur through mediums, intuition, dreams, physical effects or other forms, but it is never treated as entertainment or mere curiosity.

In Spiritism: Communication with spirits is possible, but it requires seriousness, prudence and moral purpose. Not all spirits are truthful or elevated; the value of communication depends on reason, usefulness and moral quality. For the broader technical category, see Spirit Communication.

See also: Mediumship, Spirit Communication, Discarnate Spirit.

Conscience

Definition: The inner moral awareness that helps a person distinguish right from wrong.

Explanation: Conscience reflects the spirit’s degree of moral development. It may be clearer or more clouded depending on the person’s progress, habits, attachments and sincerity.

In Spiritism: Conscience is an essential guide for self-knowledge and moral responsibility. Through conscience, the spirit gradually recognizes its faults, understands the consequences of its actions and feels the need for repair and improvement.

Consciousness

Definition: The state of awareness, perception and inner experience through which a being knows itself and relates to reality.

Explanation: Many materialist views connect consciousness only with the brain. Spiritism, while recognizing the importance of the body during incarnation, does not reduce consciousness to the physical organism.

In Spiritism: Consciousness belongs to the spirit. The brain is an instrument used during physical life, but the thinking, feeling and morally responsible being survives bodily death.

Corporeal Life

Definition: The life of the spirit while incarnated in a physical body.

Explanation: Corporeal life is temporary, but it has great educational value. Through the body, family, work, suffering, relationships and moral choices, the spirit encounters the conditions needed for learning and progress.

In Spiritism: Corporeal life is not the whole of existence. It is one stage in the spirit’s journey, alternating with spirit life and successive incarnations according to divine law.

Creation

Definition: The universe and all beings brought into existence by God.

Explanation: Spiritism teaches that creation includes both the visible material world and the invisible spiritual world. It is governed by divine laws, not by chance or arbitrary disorder.

In Spiritism: Spirits are part of creation and are destined to progress. God creates all spirits simple and ignorant, with the capacity to develop intelligence, morality and happiness through experience, free will and divine justice.

Death

Definition: The end of physical life and the separation of the spirit from the body.

Explanation: In Spiritism, death is not the destruction of the person. It is a passage from corporeal life to spirit life. The body returns to matter, while the spirit continues to exist with its individuality, memory, conscience and moral state.

In Spiritism: Death reveals the true condition of the spirit. What changes is the form of existence, not the essential being. Understanding death helps reduce fear, encourages moral responsibility and gives deeper meaning to present life.

See also: Afterlife, Disincarnation, Discarnate Spirit.

Deism

Definition: The belief in God based mainly on reason, often without accepting revelation, organized religion or direct divine intervention.

Explanation: Deism usually presents God as the Creator or First Cause, but often understands creation as operating independently after its origin.

In Spiritism: Spiritism agrees that reason is essential in approaching God, but it differs from deism by affirming providence, divine law, spirit communication, moral progress and the active relationship between the visible and invisible worlds.

Dematerialization

Definition: The disappearance or loss of material visibility or tangibility in certain spiritual phenomena.

Explanation: In mediumistic contexts, dematerialization may refer to the fading of a visible manifestation, a tangible apparition or a materialized form connected with spirit phenomena.

In Spiritism: Dematerialization should be approached as a rare and delicate phenomenon. Spiritism does not encourage sensationalism, but studies such events as part of the broader relationship between spirit, perispirit, fluids and matter.

Demons

Definition: In many religious traditions, demons are considered evil spiritual beings; in Spiritism, they are understood differently.

Explanation: Spiritism does not accept demons as a separate class of beings created for evil or condemned forever. What are called demons are imperfect spirits who remain attached to ignorance, pride, hatred or harmful tendencies.

In Spiritism: No spirit is eternally evil. Spiritism also rejects the idea of evil as an eternal substance or independent power opposed to God. Evil is understood as moral imperfection, ignorance and lack of good, and even the most hardened spirits are destined to progress through repentance, reparation and transformation.

Discarnate Spirit

Definition: A spirit who is not currently united to a physical body.

Explanation: A discarnate spirit has passed through death and returned to spirit life. This does not make the spirit automatically wise, good or enlightened. Spirits retain their individuality, tendencies, knowledge and moral condition.

In Spiritism: Discarnate spirits may be elevated, ordinary, suffering, confused or morally imperfect. Spiritism teaches that death does not transform character instantly; progress continues according to conscience, repentance, effort and divine law.

Disincarnation

Definition: The process by which the spirit separates from the physical body at death.

Explanation: Disincarnation is not always experienced in the same way. It may be peaceful, confused, gradual or difficult depending on the spirit’s moral state, attachments, beliefs, manner of death and preparation for spiritual life.

In Spiritism: Disincarnation marks the return of the spirit to the invisible world. It is a transition, not an extinction. The clearer the conscience and the less material attachment, the easier the passage tends to be.

Divine Justice

Definition: God’s perfect justice, inseparable from divine goodness, wisdom and love.

Explanation: Divine justice is not revenge. It is the moral order through which every spirit receives the consequences of its choices and the opportunities needed for learning, reparation and progress.

In Spiritism: God is supremely good and supremely just. No spirit is created for eternal suffering, and no wrong disappears without moral consequence. Divine justice educates rather than destroys; it corrects, awakens and leads all spirits toward perfection.

See also: Justice, Cause and Effect, Repentance, Reparation.

Divine Law

Definition: The universal law established by God for the order, harmony and progress of creation.

Explanation: Divine law includes both the laws that govern the physical universe and the moral laws that guide intelligent beings. It is not temporary, partial or arbitrary, but eternal, wise and directed toward the good.

In Spiritism: Divine law is the foundation of justice, love, charity, freedom, responsibility and progress. To act in harmony with divine law is to advance spiritually; to act against it is to create consequences that the spirit must later understand, repair and overcome.

Divine Permission

Definition: The idea that nothing occurs outside the order of God’s laws or without being allowed within divine providence.

Explanation: Divine permission does not mean that God directly causes every mistake, injustice or harmful act. Spirits have free will and are responsible for how they use it. However, even difficult events may be permitted within a larger moral order that allows learning, awakening, trial or reparation.

In Spiritism: Lower spirits cannot act outside divine law. Their influence may be allowed when it serves a useful purpose, reveals a weakness, becomes a trial, or helps a person learn vigilance, prayer, humility and moral reform. God’s permission is always linked to justice, wisdom and progress.

Dream

Definition: A state of mental and spiritual experience during sleep, sometimes connected with the partial emancipation of the soul.

Explanation: Not every dream has spiritual meaning. Many dreams come from memory, emotion, bodily impressions or imagination. Spiritism distinguishes ordinary dreams from experiences that may preserve confused memories of the spirit’s activity, encounters or wanderings during sleep.

In Spiritism: Dreams should be interpreted with prudence. Some may be connected with spiritual perception or the emancipation of the soul, while others are purely psychological or physiological. The moral effect, clarity and usefulness of the impression matter more than curiosity about prediction or mystery.

Doubt

Definition: A state of uncertainty that can become a useful step toward sincere understanding.

Explanation: Doubt is not necessarily a spiritual fault. When honest and accompanied by study, humility and moral seriousness, doubt can protect the mind from credulity, superstition and blind acceptance.

In Spiritism: Kardecist Spiritism does not ask people to believe without examination. It welcomes sincere questioning, provided that doubt does not become pride, denial for its own sake or refusal to examine evidence and moral reasoning.

Earthly Expiation

Definition: A difficult earthly experience through which a spirit may repair, purify or learn from past faults.

Explanation: Earthly expiation should not be understood as blind punishment. It is connected with moral education and the restoration of balance after harmful choices.

In Spiritism: Expiations may appear as suffering, limitation, loss or difficult circumstances, but their deeper purpose is progress. They help the spirit awaken, understand, repair and grow when faced with humility and courage.

Ectoplasm

Definition: A term used in psychical and mediumistic literature for a subtle substance said to be involved in certain physical manifestations.

Explanation: Ectoplasm is commonly associated with materialization phenomena, although the term became more common after Kardec’s time. Claims involving ectoplasm require particular caution because this area has often been mixed with exaggeration, misunderstanding or fraud.

In Spiritism: Spiritism does not rely on sensational phenomena as its foundation. Physical manifestations may be studied, but the moral value of Spiritism lies in the teaching, consolation and transformation that result from serious spiritual understanding.

Emancipation of the Soul

Definition: The partial loosening of the spirit from the body during physical life.

Explanation: During sleep, dreams, somnambulism, trance or certain states of heightened perception, the spirit may become less dependent on the bodily senses and act with greater freedom.

In Spiritism: Emancipation of the soul helps explain dreams, spiritual perceptions, visits between spirits, intuitive impressions and some forms of second sight. It shows that the spirit is not imprisoned absolutely by the body during incarnation.

Equality / Spiritual Equality

Definition: The principle that all spirits share the same origin, dignity and final destination before God.

Explanation: Spiritual equality does not mean that all spirits are at the same level of development. Spirits differ in knowledge, virtue and experience, but none is created for privilege, eternal inferiority or exclusion from progress.

In Spiritism: Spiritism teaches that all spirits are created simple and ignorant and are destined to perfection. Differences among beings are temporary stages of progress, not signs of divine favoritism or permanent inequality.

Errant Spirit

Definition: A spirit in the interval between two corporeal existences.

Explanation: Errant spirits are not incarnated in a physical body, but they have not necessarily reached purity or completion. Their condition may vary greatly according to their moral and intellectual progress.

In Spiritism: Errant spirits continue learning, reflecting, preparing for future incarnations and experiencing the consequences of their choices. Erraticity is a period of spirit life, not a permanent class of beings.

Erraticity

Definition: The state of a spirit between two incarnations.

Explanation: Erraticity is the condition of a spirit who has left the body but has not yet reincarnated. It may involve clarity, confusion, study, suffering, preparation, service or attachment, depending on the spirit’s state.

In Spiritism: Erraticity is part of the spirit’s ongoing journey. It allows the spirit to review, learn, receive guidance and prepare for new experiences in accordance with divine law and spiritual progress.

Eternal Punishment

Definition: The traditional belief that some souls suffer without end after death.

Explanation: Spiritism rejects the idea of absolute, irreversible and eternal punishment. Such an idea would be incompatible with a God who is supremely good, loving and just.

In Spiritism: Suffering after death is real, but it is linked to imperfection, remorse, attachment and resistance to good. It lasts as long as the causes remain. Repentance, reparation and moral change open the way to relief and progress.

Evocation

Definition: The deliberate calling of a spirit for communication.

Explanation: Evocation is a serious mediumistic practice and should not be confused with entertainment, curiosity or attempts to command the dead. The quality of the communication depends on moral intention, seriousness, the medium, the group and the nature of the spirit.

In Spiritism: Evocation requires prudence, respect and discernment. Spirits are not automatically truthful or elevated because they are spirits. Communications must be judged by reason, moral value, consistency and usefulness.

Exorcism

Definition: A religious practice intended to expel an evil spirit or spiritual influence.

Explanation: Exorcism is common in several religious traditions, usually based on the idea of forcing or commanding a spirit to leave. Spiritism approaches harmful spiritual influence differently.

In Spiritism: Spiritism does not treat obsession primarily as a battle of power or ritual formula. The deeper remedy involves moral reform, prayer, serious spiritual assistance, understanding the cause of the influence and helping both the incarnate person and the obsessing spirit to improve.

Expiation

Definition: A corrective or reparative experience through which a spirit faces the consequences of past faults.

Explanation: Expiation is not vengeance from God. It is a means of purification, learning and restoration. Through expiation, the spirit may understand the harm it has caused and develop humility, compassion and strength.

In Spiritism: Expiation is connected with divine justice and moral progress. It may occur during earthly life or in the spirit world, but its purpose is always educational and restorative, never eternal condemnation.

Familiar Spirits

Definition: Spirits who maintain a close connection with a person, family, group or place.

Explanation: Familiar spirits may be benevolent, neutral, imperfect or attached according to their moral condition and the nature of the relationship. The term should not automatically imply either holiness or danger.

In Spiritism: Familiar spirits are understood through affinity, affection, habit or attachment. Their influence should be judged by its moral quality, not by closeness alone. A truly helpful familiar spirit encourages good, reason and responsibility.

Fascination

Definition: A form of obsession in which a spirit deceives a person by gaining influence over their judgment.

Explanation: Fascination is more dangerous than simple obsession because the person often does not recognize the deception. The individual may believe they are guided by a superior spirit while accepting false, proud or unreasonable ideas.

In Spiritism: Fascination is prevented through humility, moral vigilance, sincere self-examination and the rational evaluation of communications. Good spirits never flatter pride, encourage superiority or demand blind submission.

Fear of Death

Definition: The anxiety or dread caused by the idea of physical death, separation, judgment or the unknown future.

Explanation: Fear of death often comes from uncertainty, material attachment, guilt, grief or the belief that death means nothingness. Spiritism offers another view: death is a transition, not the end of the conscious being.

In Spiritism: Understanding the survival of the soul, the justice of God and the continuity of spiritual life can reduce fear. Spiritism does not trivialize death, but gives it meaning within the broader journey of the immortal spirit.

Fluidic Body

Definition: Another expression for the perispirit, the subtle envelope of the spirit.

Explanation: The fluidic body is not the physical body. It is the semi-material vehicle through which the spirit preserves its individuality, appearance and means of manifestation after death.

In Spiritism: The fluidic body helps explain apparitions, sensations after death, mediumistic phenomena and the link between the spirit and the physical organism during incarnation.

Fluidic Influence

Definition: The action of subtle spiritual fluids upon a person, environment or mediumistic phenomenon.

Explanation: Spiritism teaches that thoughts, intentions and spiritual states may affect the quality of the fluids that surround and connect beings. These influences may be beneficial, disturbing, healing or harmful depending on their source and moral quality.

In Spiritism: Prayer, moral elevation and good thoughts attract healthier spiritual influences, while pride, anger, selfishness and harmful habits may place a person in contact with heavier or more troubled influences.

Fluidic Healing

Definition: Spiritual or magnetic assistance based on the action of beneficial fluids.

Explanation: Fluidic healing refers to the use or transmission of subtle spiritual fluids for relief, balance or support. It is often associated with prayer, passes, magnetism and the assistance of good spirits.

In Spiritism: In Spiritism, fluidic healing should be practiced with humility, charity and prudence. It is complementary spiritual assistance, not a substitute for medical treatment, moral reform or responsible care.

Fluids

Definition: Subtle elements or forces used in Spiritism to explain certain interactions between spirits, perispirit, matter and thought.

Explanation: The word “fluids” in Spiritism does not simply mean physical liquid or gas. It refers to subtle forms of matter or influence involved in spiritual action, healing, apparitions, impressions, mediumistic effects and the connection between incarnate and discarnate beings.

In Spiritism: Fluids are part of the natural explanation of many phenomena once considered supernatural. Their quality is affected by the thoughts, intentions and moral condition of spirits and incarnate people. Prayer, charity, humility and elevated thought help purify the fluidic atmosphere around a person or group.

See also: Universal Cosmic Fluid, Fluidic Influence, Fluidic Healing, Perispirit.

Forgiveness

Definition: The moral act of releasing resentment and refusing hatred or revenge toward those who have caused harm.

Explanation: Forgiveness does not mean approving evil, denying justice or allowing abuse to continue. It means freeing the soul from bitterness and choosing a higher response guided by charity, wisdom and moral strength.

In Spiritism: Forgiveness is essential to spiritual progress because hatred binds spirits to the past and strengthens inferior influences. True forgiveness prepares the way for peace, reparation and reconciliation when possible.

Free Will

Definition: The capacity of the spirit to choose its actions and moral direction.

Explanation: Spiritism teaches that free will is inseparable from responsibility. Without freedom of choice, there would be neither merit in doing good nor accountability for doing wrong.

In Spiritism: God governs creation through wise and just laws, but does not turn human beings into machines. Spirits progress or delay themselves through the way they use their freedom. Divine providence offers guidance, trials, warnings and assistance, but each spirit remains responsible for its choices.

Frivolous Spirits

Definition: Spirits who are light-minded, playful, mocking or lacking serious moral purpose.

Explanation: Frivolous spirits are not necessarily deeply malicious, but they may enjoy distraction, joking, misleading the curious or producing communications of little value.

In Spiritism: Frivolous spirits are often attracted by frivolous intentions. Serious study, moral purpose and respectful practice help avoid communications that are empty, deceptive or merely entertaining.

Future Life

Definition: The life of the soul after physical death.

Explanation: The future life is not a vague hope in Spiritism. It is the continuation of the spirit’s existence, with consequences shaped by moral condition, conscience, attachments and progress.

In Spiritism: Belief in the future life changes the way one understands suffering, duty, death and the purpose of earthly existence. Present life becomes a stage of learning and preparation, not the whole of destiny.

Ghost

Definition: A common term for the apparent presence or manifestation of a person who has died.

Explanation: Popular culture often associates ghosts with fear, haunting or horror. Spiritism uses a more precise language: a so-called ghost is usually a discarnate spirit, sometimes confused, attached, suffering or trying to communicate.

In Spiritism: Spiritism avoids sensationalism around ghosts. It seeks to understand the moral and spiritual condition of the spirit, the reason for the manifestation and the best way to respond with prayer, discernment and charity.

Genesis According to Spiritism

Definition: A work by Allan Kardec that examines creation, miracles and predictions according to Spiritist principles.

Explanation: Genesis According to Spiritism connects spiritual teaching with reason, natural law and the progressive understanding of science. It addresses the origin of worlds, the nature of miracles, and the relationship between divine law and extraordinary phenomena.

In Spiritism: Genesis According to Spiritism is part of the Spiritist codification and helps explain why Spiritism does not rely on supernatural exceptions, but seeks the laws behind spiritual and material phenomena.

Good and Evil

Definition: Moral directions of the spirit, expressed through thoughts, intentions and actions that either harmonize with or oppose divine law.

Explanation: Good is connected with justice, love, charity, humility and respect for others. Evil arises from ignorance, selfishness, pride, hatred and the misuse of free will.

In Spiritism: Evil is not eternal and does not come from a separate power equal to God. It is a temporary condition of imperfect spirits. Through conscience, repentance, reparation and progress, every spirit is called to overcome evil and choose the good.

The Gospel According to Spiritism

Definition: A work by Allan Kardec that explains the moral teachings of Jesus in the light of Spiritism.

Explanation: The Gospel According to Spiritism focuses on the ethical and spiritual meaning of the Gospel, especially charity, humility, forgiveness, prayer, suffering, mercy and inner transformation.

In Spiritism: This book is central to the moral practice of Spiritism. It shows that the purpose of Spiritist knowledge is not curiosity about phenomena, but the improvement of the soul through love and charity.

God

Definition: The Supreme Intelligence and the First Cause of all things.

Explanation: In Spiritism, God is eternal, immutable, immaterial, unique, all-powerful, supremely just and supremely good. God is not understood as a human-like being limited by form, place or emotion, but as the source of creation, life, moral law and universal order.

In Spiritism: God governs creation through divine laws rather than arbitrary disorder. Free will, reincarnation, moral responsibility, progress and the assistance of higher spirits all operate within divine providence. Spiritism therefore links belief in God with reason, justice, goodness and the moral education of all spirits.

Good Spirits

Definition: Spirits who are morally advanced and inclined toward goodness, wisdom and service.

Explanation: Good spirits may differ in knowledge and degree of elevation, but they are characterized by benevolence, humility, sincerity and a desire to help others progress.

In Spiritism: Good spirits do not flatter pride, encourage domination or impose blind obedience. Their influence is recognized by the moral quality of their teachings: charity, humility, reason, peace, responsibility and respect for free will.

Guardian Angel

Definition: A protector spirit assigned to guide and assist a person during life.

Explanation: In Spiritism, a guardian angel is not necessarily an angel created apart from humanity, but a higher or more benevolent spirit who helps, inspires and encourages the incarnate person.

In Spiritism: Guardian angels do not remove free will or prevent all difficulty. They inspire good thoughts, support moral progress and help the person face trials, but each individual remains responsible for listening, choosing and acting.

Heaven

Definition: A state of spiritual happiness, peace and harmony experienced by morally advanced spirits.

Explanation: In Spiritism, heaven is not primarily a fixed physical place or an exclusive reward granted by external privilege. It is the natural condition of spirits who have purified themselves, overcome selfishness and live in harmony with divine law.

In Spiritism: Heaven corresponds to inner elevation. The more a spirit progresses in love, wisdom, humility and charity, the more it participates in spiritual happiness. This happiness is not arbitrary; it reflects the spirit’s moral condition.

Heaven and Hell

Definition: A work by Allan Kardec on divine justice, the future life, spiritual suffering and happiness after death.

Explanation: Heaven and Hell compares traditional doctrines of reward and punishment with the Spiritist understanding of conscience, moral consequence, repentance, suffering spirits and happy spirits.

In Spiritism: This book is important because it rejects eternal punishment and presents the afterlife as a moral condition shaped by the spirit’s own state, choices and progress.

Hell

Definition: A state of spiritual suffering caused by imperfection, remorse, attachment or resistance to good.

Explanation: Spiritism does not understand hell as an eternal place of absolute condemnation. Suffering after death is real, but it is not endless by divine decree. It continues while the causes of suffering remain within the spirit.

In Spiritism: Hell is a moral condition, not a final destiny. Spirits suffer because of what they are, what they have done, what they still cling to, or what they refuse to understand. Repentance, reparation and moral progress open the way to relief.

Higher Spirits

Definition: Spirits who have reached an advanced level of moral and intellectual progress.

Explanation: Higher spirits are recognized less by extraordinary power than by the quality of their thoughts, intentions and teachings. They are benevolent, humble, wise and concerned with the moral progress of others.

In Spiritism: Higher spirits teach through reason, goodness and moral clarity. They never encourage pride, domination, fanaticism or fear. Their influence elevates the soul and leads it toward charity, humility and responsibility.

Humility

Definition: The virtue through which a person recognizes their limitations, faults and need for improvement without pride or self-deception.

Explanation: Humility does not mean weakness or self-contempt. It means truthfulness before oneself, before others and before God. A humble person is willing to learn, repair mistakes and accept correction.

In Spiritism: Humility is essential for moral progress and safe spiritual practice. Pride attracts illusion, fascination and false superiority, while humility opens the soul to sincere guidance from good spirits.

Immortality

Definition: The continued existence of the soul after the death of the physical body.

Explanation: Immortality means that the thinking and feeling being does not disappear when the body dies. The spirit preserves its individuality, conscience, affections and responsibility beyond corporeal life.

In Spiritism: Immortality is one of the foundations of Spiritism. It gives meaning to moral law, free will, reincarnation, spiritual progress and the hope of reunion with loved ones after death.

Imperfect Spirits

Definition: Spirits who are still dominated by ignorance, pride, selfishness, attachment or harmful tendencies.

Explanation: Imperfect spirits are not eternally evil beings. They are spirits at a lower stage of development who have not yet purified their thoughts, desires and moral character.

In Spiritism: Imperfect spirits may influence incarnate people, especially when there is moral affinity through anger, vanity, fear, addiction, pride or selfishness. The remedy is not fear, but moral vigilance, prayer, charity, humility and inner reform.

Impersonation by Spirits

Definition: The act of a spirit falsely presenting itself under another name or identity.

Explanation: Imperfect or frivolous spirits may claim famous, sacred or respected names in order to gain attention, authority or influence. This is one of the reasons why spirit identity must be examined carefully.

In Spiritism: The name given by a spirit is less important than the moral and rational quality of the communication. Good spirits are recognized by humility, truthfulness, charity and consistency, not by impressive claims.

Incarnation

Definition: The union of a spirit with a physical body for a period of earthly life.

Explanation: Incarnation allows the spirit to experience material life, develop intelligence, face trials, repair past errors and grow morally through real choices and relationships.

In Spiritism: Incarnation is not accidental. It is part of divine law and spiritual education. Through incarnation, the spirit receives opportunities for progress that it could not obtain in the same way in the spirit world alone.

Incarnate Spirit

Definition: A spirit temporarily united to a physical body.

Explanation: In Spiritism, a human being is not merely a body with consciousness. A human being is a spirit living temporarily through a body, using the brain and senses as instruments of earthly experience.

In Spiritism: The incarnate spirit is here to learn, choose, love, repair and progress. Physical life is temporary, but the moral results of one’s choices continue beyond death.

Inspiration

Definition: A subtle influence by which a spirit suggests thoughts, ideas or impulses to another spirit or to an incarnate person.

Explanation: Inspiration may come from good spirits, imperfect spirits, or from the person’s own inner tendencies. Not every thought that appears suddenly is elevated or trustworthy.

In Spiritism: Good inspiration is recognized by its moral quality: it encourages peace, courage, charity, humility and responsibility. Harmful inspiration flatters pride, stimulates resentment, excuses selfishness or pushes a person toward confusion and disorder.

Intelligent Manifestation

Definition: A spirit manifestation that shows intention, meaning, thought or response.

Explanation: Intelligent manifestations differ from purely physical effects because they reveal a directing intelligence. Examples may include meaningful raps, written messages, spoken communication or responses adapted to questions.

In Spiritism: Intelligent manifestations were central to the development of Spiritism because they pointed beyond a blind physical force. However, intelligence alone does not prove moral elevation. Communications must still be judged by reason and moral quality.

Intuitive Medium

Definition: A medium who receives thoughts or ideas from spirits through intuition rather than through mechanical writing, hearing or direct speech.

Explanation: In intuitive mediumship, the medium may feel that ideas arise in the mind, but it can be difficult to distinguish what comes from the spirit and what comes from the medium’s own thought.

In Spiritism: Intuitive mediumship requires humility and discernment. Because personal interpretation can easily mix with spiritual influence, messages should be evaluated by clarity, consistency, reason and moral value.

Jesus in Spiritism

Definition: Jesus understood as the highest moral model and guide for humanity.

Explanation: Spiritism does not present Jesus primarily through dogmatic mystery, but through the moral clarity of his teachings. His example of love, humility, forgiveness and charity represents the highest pattern for human conduct.

In Spiritism: In Spiritism, Jesus is the guide and model for moral progress. His teachings are read in the light of reason, conscience, reincarnation, divine justice and the practical transformation of the soul.

Justice

Definition: The moral principle of giving each being what is right, fair and in harmony with divine law.

Explanation: Justice is not revenge, privilege or punishment driven by anger. It is the moral order through which rights, duties, freedom and responsibility are balanced.

In Spiritism: Spiritism understands justice in connection with divine law, free will, cause and effect, reincarnation and moral progress. For God’s perfect justice, see the separate term Divine Justice.

Karma

Definition: A term from Indian religious and philosophical traditions referring broadly to action and its consequences.

Explanation: Karma is not a central Kardecist term, and Spiritism should not be reduced to a simplified idea of “karma.” However, many readers use the word to ask about moral consequence, responsibility and the link between present experiences and past actions.

In Spiritism: The closest Spiritist concepts are cause and effect, free will, expiation, trial, repentance and reparation. Spiritism teaches that every action has consequences, but also that God’s justice is educational, merciful and directed toward progress, not fatalistic punishment.

Knowledge of Self

Definition: The honest examination of one’s own thoughts, motives, virtues and faults.

Explanation: Self-knowledge is more than intellectual reflection. It requires moral courage, sincerity and the willingness to recognize pride, selfishness, resentment, vanity and other inner obstacles.

In Spiritism: Knowledge of self is one of the most practical paths to spiritual progress. By observing oneself honestly, the spirit learns what must be corrected and begins the work of inner reform.

Law of Cause and Effect

Definition: The moral principle that every thought, intention and action produces consequences.

Explanation: This law does not operate as blind revenge or mechanical fatalism. It is part of divine justice, allowing spirits to learn from what they create and to repair the harm they have caused.

In Spiritism: The law of cause and effect explains why moral responsibility continues beyond one lifetime. Through reincarnation, trials, expiations and reparations, the spirit gradually understands the consequences of its choices and learns to act in harmony with divine law.

Law of Justice, Love and Charity

Definition: A moral law that expresses the duty to respect, love and help others as children of God.

Explanation: Justice gives others what is rightfully due to them. Love expands the heart beyond selfishness. Charity turns love into patient, practical and compassionate action.

In Spiritism: This law is central to moral progress. A spirit does not become elevated merely by belief or knowledge, but by learning to act with fairness, kindness, forgiveness and sincere concern for the good of others.

Law of Progress

Definition: The divine law by which spirits and worlds gradually advance toward greater perfection.

Explanation: Progress includes intellectual development, but true spiritual progress requires moral improvement. Knowledge without goodness may increase responsibility rather than elevation.

In Spiritism: The law of progress teaches that no spirit is created perfect or condemned to remain imperfect. All are destined to evolve through effort, experience, free will, reincarnation and divine assistance.

Life After Death

Definition: The continuation of the spirit’s conscious existence after the death of the physical body.

Explanation: Life after death includes memory, conscience, perception, relationships and moral consequences. The spirit does not become all-knowing simply by dying; it continues according to its degree of progress.

In Spiritism: Life after death is a natural continuation of life, not an exception to it. Death changes the environment of the spirit, but not its essential identity, character or responsibility.

Lucid Medium / Lucidity

Definition: A medium who remains aware and mentally clear during a mediumistic communication.

Explanation: Lucidity refers to the degree of consciousness the medium retains while receiving or transmitting a communication. A lucid medium may perceive the influence of a spirit while still maintaining awareness and partial control.

In Spiritism: Lucidity does not guarantee the superiority of a communication. Even when the medium remains conscious, the message must be judged by reason, consistency, humility and moral value.

Lower Spirits

Definition: Spirits who remain morally undeveloped and may be attached to selfish, harmful or material tendencies.

Explanation: Lower spirits are not eternal demons. They are imperfect beings who still need education, repentance and progress. Their influence can be disturbing when there is affinity with human weaknesses.

In Spiritism: Lower spirits may attempt to deceive, mock, obsess or disturb, but they act only within the limits permitted by divine law. The best protection is not fear, but moral improvement, prayer, humility, vigilance and the cultivation of good thoughts.

Magnetism

Definition: In Spiritist and historical contexts, a subtle influence associated with the action of fluids, will and healing intention.

Explanation: Magnetism was an important background to early studies of mediumship and spiritual phenomena. It was often connected with healing, passes, somnambulism and the influence of one person upon another.

In Spiritism: Magnetism is not magic. It is understood as a natural influence that may be assisted by spiritual action. Its moral quality depends on intention, humility, charity and the spiritual condition of those involved.

Materialism

Definition: The view that only matter exists and that consciousness ends with the body.

Explanation: Spiritism opposes materialism because it affirms the existence, survival and individuality of the soul after death. Materialism reduces thought, conscience and moral life to physical processes alone.

In Spiritism: Materialism cannot fully explain free will, moral responsibility, the persistence of individuality after death or the spiritual meaning of life. Spiritism answers materialism by presenting the human being as an incarnate spirit temporarily united with a physical body.

Materialization

Definition: A physical manifestation in which a spirit or spiritual form appears with visible or tangible qualities.

Explanation: Materialization is connected with the action of spirits, the perispirit and fluids upon matter. Classical Spiritist literature treats such phenomena as rare, delicate and requiring strict caution because they can easily be misunderstood or falsified.

In Spiritism: In Spiritism, materialization is not the goal of spiritual practice. Its value is secondary to moral instruction, consolation and the serious study of the laws that connect spirit and matter.

Mediumistic Education

Definition: The disciplined study and moral preparation needed for the responsible use of mediumship.

Explanation: Mediumistic education is not merely technical training. It includes study, prayer, self-knowledge, emotional balance, humility, discipline and the ability to evaluate communications with reason.

In Spiritism: Spiritism teaches that mediumship should be educated rather than exploited. The medium’s faculty becomes safer and more useful when guided by moral reform, serious study and service to others.

Medium

Definition: A person who can serve as an intermediary between spirits and incarnate human beings.

Explanation: Mediums may receive communications through writing, speech, hearing, sight, intuition, physical effects or other forms of perception and influence. Mediumship varies in degree, type and reliability.

In Spiritism: Being a medium is not a sign of moral superiority. The moral value of mediumship depends on humility, seriousness, discipline, charity and the quality of the use made of the faculty.

Mediumship

Definition: The faculty that allows communication or interaction between incarnate people and spirits.

Explanation: Mediumship may be physical, intellectual, intuitive, psychographic, speaking, seeing, hearing, healing or otherwise. It is a natural faculty, but it requires education and moral responsibility.

In Spiritism: Mediumship is not meant for vanity, curiosity or profit. Its higher purpose is consolation, instruction, moral improvement and service. Serious mediumship must be guided by reason, humility and charity.

See also: Medium, Psychography, Psychophony, Quality of Communications.

The Mediums’ Book

Definition: Allan Kardec’s practical and theoretical guide to mediumship and spirit manifestations, published in 1861.

Explanation: The Mediums’ Book studies the different kinds of manifestations, the development of mediumship, the role of mediums, the identity of spirits, obsession, evocation and the difficulties of Spiritist practice.

In Spiritism: This work is essential for understanding why mediumship requires seriousness, humility, moral discipline and rational discernment. It warns against frivolity, credulity, pride and deception.

Mesmerism

Definition: A historical theory and practice associated with animal magnetism and the influence of one person upon another through subtle forces.

Explanation: Mesmerism preceded and influenced many nineteenth-century discussions about trance, somnambulism, healing and unusual states of consciousness. It formed part of the historical environment in which Spiritism emerged.

In Spiritism: Spiritism distinguishes magnetic phenomena from spirit manifestations, while also recognizing that both may interact. Not every unusual perception is spirit communication, and not every trance state is mediumship.

Metaphysics

Definition: A branch of philosophy concerned with being, reality, first causes and questions beyond purely physical explanation.

Explanation: Metaphysics asks questions about existence, consciousness, God, the soul, causality and the nature of reality. These questions often overlap with spiritual and religious inquiry.

In Spiritism: Spiritism addresses metaphysical questions through reason, moral philosophy and the study of spirit phenomena. It does not reduce reality to matter, but also avoids vague speculation unsupported by logic and observation.

Miracle

Definition: An event commonly understood as extraordinary, divine or beyond ordinary natural explanation.

Explanation: Many traditions view miracles as suspensions of natural law. Spiritism approaches many so-called miracles differently, seeking the unknown natural or spiritual laws behind them.

In Spiritism: Spiritism does not deny extraordinary events, but it does not require a violation of divine law to explain them. What appears supernatural may be natural once the laws of spirit, fluids, perispirit and mediumship are better understood.

Moral Law

Definition: The part of divine law that governs the conduct, responsibility and progress of intelligent beings.

Explanation: Moral law is not merely a social convention. It is rooted in the divine order and becomes clearer as the spirit develops reason, conscience and love.

In Spiritism: Moral law teaches that progress depends on how one uses freedom. Justice, charity, humility, forgiveness and self-knowledge are not optional ideals; they are paths toward spiritual happiness.

Moral Influence

Definition: The effect that the moral condition of a medium, group or person can have on spiritual communications and influences.

Explanation: In mediumship, moral influence matters because affinity attracts corresponding spiritual company. Pride, vanity, curiosity or selfishness may facilitate inferior influences, while humility, charity and seriousness attract better assistance.

In Spiritism: Spiritism does not claim that a medium must be perfect, but teaches that moral effort is essential. The quality of the spiritual environment is shaped by intention, conduct, thought and the sincere desire to serve the good.

Moral Perfection

Definition: The highest development of the spirit’s virtues and harmony with divine law.

Explanation: Moral perfection does not mean social perfection, intellectual brilliance or external religious appearance. It means purification of the heart: less pride, less selfishness, more love, more justice and deeper charity.

In Spiritism: All spirits are destined for perfection, but they reach it gradually through effort, experience, repentance, reparation and the practice of good. Moral perfection is the true aim of spiritual evolution.

Moral Progress

Definition: The gradual improvement of the spirit through the development of goodness, humility, charity and self-mastery.

Explanation: Moral progress is not the same as intellectual knowledge. A person may know many things and still remain proud, selfish or harsh. True progress appears in character: less pride, less selfishness, more compassion, more honesty and a greater desire to do good.

In Spiritism: Moral progress is the central purpose of reincarnation and earthly trials. Spirits rise by becoming better, not merely more informed. The goal of life is not the accumulation of wealth or status, but the transformation of the soul.

Moral Reform

Definition: The conscious effort to improve one’s character by correcting faults and cultivating virtues.

Explanation: Moral reform begins with self-knowledge. It requires recognizing one’s pride, selfishness, impatience, resentment, vanity or indifference, and then working patiently to transform them.

In Spiritism: Moral reform is one of the most practical applications of Spiritism. Spirit communication has little value if it does not lead to becoming more charitable, humble, responsible and useful to others.

Moral Responsibility

Definition: The responsibility of each spirit for its thoughts, intentions and actions.

Explanation: In Spiritism, moral responsibility follows from free will. Every spirit receives opportunities to learn, choose, repair and improve. The consequences of good or harmful actions are not arbitrary punishments, but part of the moral order established by God.

In Spiritism: Moral responsibility gives meaning to life, suffering, repentance and progress. It teaches that no one is condemned forever, but no one escapes the need to face, understand and repair the consequences of their choices.

Mysticism

Definition: The search for direct experience of spiritual reality, divine presence or hidden truth.

Explanation: Mysticism may appear in many religious and spiritual traditions. It often emphasizes inner experience, contemplation, intuition and union with the divine or sacred.

In Spiritism: Spiritism is not mysticism in the sense of secret initiation or vague personal ecstasy. It values inner experience, but submits spiritual claims to reason, moral judgment, comparison and the principle that true spirituality must lead to humility and charity.

Natural Law

Definition: God’s law expressed in the order of creation.

Explanation: Spiritism teaches that natural law is divine law. It is eternal, universal and written in the conscience. It governs both the material universe and the moral life of spirits.

In Spiritism: Natural law explains why progress is not random and why every action has moral consequences. It is the basis of duty, justice, freedom, charity and responsibility.

Near-Death Experience (NDE)

Definition: An experience reported by some people who come close to physical death and describe perceptions such as separation from the body, light, peace or encounters.

Explanation: Near-death experiences are studied today in medical, psychological and parapsychological contexts. Reports vary and should not be used carelessly as proof of any doctrine, but they often raise questions about consciousness, the soul and the continuity of life after bodily crisis.

In Spiritism: Spiritism can compare NDE reports with its teachings on the survival of the soul, the perispirit and the partial emancipation of the spirit from the body. It does so cautiously, valuing moral meaning and serious observation rather than sensational claims.

Necromancy

Definition: The practice, in ancient or occult traditions, of attempting to summon the dead in order to obtain hidden knowledge, power or predictions.

Explanation: Necromancy is often associated with magic, command, ritual power or the desire to control spiritual beings. It belongs to a very different framework from serious Spiritist study.

In Spiritism: Spiritism should not be confused with necromancy. Spiritist communication is not based on forcing the dead to obey, seeking power, or satisfying curiosity. Its proper aim is moral instruction, consolation, charity, responsibility and the serious study of the relationship between the visible and invisible worlds.

Nothingness

Definition: The belief that conscious existence ends completely with physical death.

Explanation: Nothingness is closely related to materialist views of the human being. If the person is only the body, then death would mean total extinction of thought, memory, love and individuality.

In Spiritism: Spiritism rejects nothingness by affirming the survival of the soul. The spirit continues after death, retaining its individuality and entering a new phase of life shaped by conscience, moral condition and spiritual progress.

Obsession

Definition: The persistent harmful influence of an imperfect spirit over an incarnate person or medium.

Explanation: Obsession may appear as repeated troubling thoughts, deceptive communications, emotional disturbance, fascination, moral weakness or stronger forms of spiritual domination. It is not caused by good spirits.

In Spiritism: Obsession is treated through moral reform, prayer, humility, vigilance, serious spiritual assistance and charity toward both the person affected and the obsessing spirit. Its deepest remedy is not fear or ritual force, but moral improvement and spiritual education.

See also: Simple Obsession, Fascination, Subjugation, Moral Reform.

Occultism

Definition: A broad term for systems that claim hidden, secret or esoteric knowledge about spiritual forces, invisible realities or supernatural powers.

Explanation: Occultism may include many different practices and beliefs, some philosophical, some magical and some speculative. Because the term is broad, it can easily create confusion when applied to any spiritual subject.

In Spiritism: Spiritism is not occultism in the sense of secret initiation, magical control or hidden power reserved for a few. Kardecist Spiritism presents itself as a rational, moral and open doctrine, based on observation, comparison, reason and the universal value of charity.

Parapsychology

Definition: The study of unusual psychological or perceptual phenomena that appear to go beyond ordinary sensory explanation.

Explanation: Parapsychology may examine topics such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, apparitions and near-death experiences. It usually approaches these subjects through research methods rather than religious doctrine.

In Spiritism: Parapsychology and Spiritism may study some overlapping phenomena, but they are not the same. Spiritism includes a philosophical and moral doctrine about God, spirits, reincarnation, responsibility and progress, while parapsychology is generally a field of investigation into exceptional human or psychic experiences.

Pantheism

Definition: The belief that God and the universe are identical, or that everything collectively constitutes God.

Explanation: Pantheism differs from the Spiritist view of God as the Supreme Intelligence and First Cause of all things. In pantheism, the distinction between Creator and creation may become blurred or disappear.

In Spiritism: Spiritism rejects pantheism because it preserves the individuality of spirits and the distinction between God, creation and created beings. God is present through divine law and providence, but God is not simply the sum of material things or imperfect spirits.

Pass / Spiritual Pass

Definition: A practice of spiritual or magnetic assistance in which beneficial fluids are directed toward a person for relief, balance or support.

Explanation: The spiritual pass, also called a magnetic pass or healing pass in some Spiritist contexts, is often performed through prayer, intention and the laying on or movement of hands. It is connected with magnetism, fluidic influence, spiritual assistance and the moral disposition of those involved.

In Spiritism: A pass is not magic and does not replace medical care, moral effort or personal responsibility. Its value depends on sincerity, prayer, charity, humility and the spiritual conditions of the giver and receiver.

Perispirit

Definition: The semi-material envelope of the spirit and the link between the spirit and the physical body.

Explanation: The perispirit is one of the central concepts of Spiritism. It is not the physical body and not the spirit itself, but a fluidic body that preserves the spirit’s individuality, appearance and means of manifestation. During incarnation, it connects the spirit to the organism; after death, it remains as the spirit’s subtle vehicle.

In Spiritism: The perispirit helps explain apparitions, sensations after death, mediumistic phenomena, spiritual influence, emancipation of the soul, the continuity of personal identity and the relationship between thought, fluids and matter. Because it stands between spirit and body, it is essential for understanding both incarnation and life after death.

See also: Fluidic Body, Universal Cosmic Fluid, Apparition, Materialization.

Physical Manifestation

Definition: A spirit phenomenon that produces an observable effect on matter.

Explanation: Physical manifestations may include raps, movements of objects, noises, table-turning, apparitions or other effects that appear through material means. These phenomena were important in the historical development of Spiritist investigation.

In Spiritism: Physical manifestations may attract attention, but they are not the highest purpose of Spiritism. Their value lies in showing the action of an intelligent cause beyond matter and opening the way to moral and philosophical understanding.

Plurality of Existences

Definition: The Spiritist principle that the soul lives through more than one corporeal existence.

Explanation: The plurality of existences is the philosophical and doctrinal principle that explains why one earthly life is insufficient for the full development of intelligence, morality, responsibility and justice. It gives a broader meaning to inequalities, aptitudes, trials and the gradual education of the spirit.

In Spiritism: This principle supports divine justice by showing that progress is not limited to one lifetime. Reincarnation is the mechanism through which the plurality of existences takes place, while the principle itself explains why successive lives are necessary for spiritual growth.

Plurality of Worlds

Definition: The teaching that the universe contains many inhabited worlds at different levels of material, moral and spiritual development.

Explanation: Spiritism does not limit intelligent life to Earth. Worlds differ according to the progress of the spirits who inhabit them, from more primitive conditions to more elevated and harmonious states.

In Spiritism: The plurality of worlds expands the idea of divine justice and progress. Earth is one stage of spiritual education, not the center of creation. Spirits may progress through experiences suited to their needs and degree of advancement.

Pneumatography

Definition: Direct writing attributed to spirits without the use of the medium’s hand.

Explanation: Pneumatography is a technical term from classical Spiritist vocabulary. It refers to writing produced by spiritual action directly upon a surface, rather than through ordinary psychographic writing by a medium.

In Spiritism: Pneumatography belongs to the study of physical and intelligent manifestations. Because such phenomena are rare and easily misunderstood, Spiritism approaches them with caution, observation and discernment.

Pneumatophony

Definition: The direct voice of spirits, or oral spirit communication without using the voice of a medium.

Explanation: Pneumatophony is a technical Spiritist term for audible spirit communication that appears independently of the medium’s own speech organs.

In Spiritism: Like other physical or audible phenomena, pneumatophony is secondary to the moral value of the communication. The important question is not only whether a voice is heard, but whether the message is reasonable, elevated, useful and morally sound.

Prayer

Definition: A sincere movement of the soul toward God, expressed through thought, feeling, words or inner intention.

Explanation: Prayer is not merely repetition of formulas. It may include praise, gratitude, repentance, request, intercession, surrender or moral reflection. Its value depends on sincerity, humility and the elevation of the heart.

In Spiritism: Prayer attracts good spiritual assistance, strengthens the soul, helps suffering spirits and improves the moral atmosphere around a person or group. It does not cancel responsibility, but gives strength, clarity and support for facing trials.

See also: Spiritual Aid / Spiritist Assistance, Guardian Angel, Good Spirits.

Providence

Definition: The wise, loving and just guidance of God over creation.

Explanation: Providence does not mean arbitrary intervention or favoritism. In Spiritism, it is expressed through divine law, natural order, moral consequences, spiritual assistance and the opportunities given to every spirit for learning, repair and progress.

In Spiritism: Nothing essential to the progress of a spirit is outside divine providence. Even difficult experiences may become means of education, awakening or reparation when understood in the light of free will, responsibility and divine justice.

Psychography

Definition: Spirit communication through writing by means of a medium.

Explanation: In psychography, the medium writes under the influence of a spirit. The process may be more mechanical, semi-mechanical or intuitive depending on the degree of control and awareness involved.

In Spiritism: Psychography is one of the best-known forms of mediumship, but written messages must never be accepted blindly. They should be evaluated by reason, moral elevation, consistency, humility and usefulness.

Psychophony

Definition: Spirit communication through the voice of a speaking medium.

Explanation: In psychophony, a spirit communicates by influencing the medium’s speech. The medium may be more or less conscious during the communication, depending on the type and degree of mediumship.

In Spiritism: Psychophony should be practiced seriously and with moral purpose. The identity or authority claimed by a spirit is less important than the content, tone, reason and moral quality of the communication.

Pure Spirits

Definition: Spirits who have reached the highest degree of moral and intellectual perfection.

Explanation: Pure spirits have no remaining attachment to evil, selfishness or material passions. They live in full harmony with divine law and act as messengers and servants of God’s will.

In Spiritism: Pure spirits are what humanity traditionally calls angels. They were not created perfect apart from others; they reached purity through progress. Their existence shows the final destination toward which all spirits are moving.

Purgatory

Definition: In some Christian traditions, a temporary state of purification after death.

Explanation: Purgatory is not a central Spiritist term, but it can be compared with the Spiritist idea that suffering after death may be temporary, educational and connected with purification.

In Spiritism: Spiritism does not describe purification as a fixed place created for punishment. It understands post-mortem suffering as a moral condition of the spirit, linked to conscience, attachment, remorse, repentance and the need for reparation.

Quality of Communications

Definition: The moral, intellectual and spiritual value of a message attributed to a spirit.

Explanation: In Spiritism, the value of a communication is not determined only by the fact that it comes from a spirit. Spirits differ greatly in wisdom, sincerity, knowledge and moral elevation.

In Spiritism: A good communication is recognized by reason, clarity, humility, charity, usefulness and moral elevation. Communications that flatter pride, encourage fear, promote superiority or contradict goodness and logic should be treated with caution.

Rapping Spirits / Spirit-Rappers

Definition: Spirits who reveal their presence through raps, knocks or other audible noises.

Explanation: Rapping phenomena were among the early physical manifestations studied in Spiritist and spiritualist contexts. They may be simple signs, attempts at communication or preliminary forms of intelligent manifestation.

In Spiritism: Raps and noises should not be treated as entertainment or proof by themselves. Their value depends on whether they lead to serious study, moral reflection and a better understanding of the relationship between spirits and the material world.

Rational Faith

Definition: Faith that can face reason, examination and sincere questioning.

Explanation: Rational faith is not blind belief. It seeks understanding, coherence and moral meaning. It does not reject reason, but uses reason to deepen conviction and avoid superstition.

In Spiritism: Spiritism values faith that is supported by study, observation, moral reflection and logic. A belief that fears examination is fragile; a faith that can stand before reason becomes stronger, clearer and more useful.

Rationalism

Definition: A philosophical approach that gives central importance to reason in the search for truth.

Explanation: Rationalism may take many forms. In spiritual matters, it can be useful when it protects the mind from credulity, superstition and emotional exaggeration.

In Spiritism: Spiritism is not cold rationalism, but it strongly values reason. Kardecist Spiritism asks that spirit communications, doctrines and phenomena be examined with logic, moral judgment and comparison, rather than accepted blindly.

Reality

Definition: Everything that truly exists, whether visible or invisible, material or spiritual.

Explanation: Materialist views often limit reality to what can be measured through the physical senses or instruments. Spiritism proposes a wider view that includes the invisible world and intelligent beings beyond the material body.

In Spiritism: Spiritual reality is not separate from the order of creation. The visible and invisible worlds are connected, and both are governed by divine law.

Reincarnation

Definition: The return of a spirit to corporeal life in a new body.

Explanation: Reincarnation is the process by which the spirit takes a new physical body and enters a new earthly or corporeal existence. It provides concrete conditions for learning, reparation, family ties, moral testing, intellectual development and the exercise of free will.

In Spiritism: Reincarnation is a law of justice and progress. It does not erase responsibility; it gives the spirit new opportunities to grow. The number and circumstances of incarnations vary according to the needs of the spirit, divine law and the lessons still required for moral improvement.

See also: Plurality of Existences, Cause and Effect, Expiation, Trial.

Religion

Definition: A system of beliefs, practices and moral teachings concerning the divine, the sacred or the meaning of existence.

Explanation: Religion may include worship, doctrine, ritual, community, prayer and moral guidance. It can elevate the soul when it leads to humility, love and service, but it can become limited when reduced to form, fear or external identity.

In Spiritism: Spiritism has religious consequences because it leads the person toward God, prayer, charity and moral transformation. At the same time, it presents itself as a philosophical and experimental doctrine, open to reason and study.

Repentance

Definition: The sincere recognition of a wrong, accompanied by the desire to change and repair it.

Explanation: Repentance is more than regret or fear of consequences. It begins when the spirit understands the harm it has caused and sincerely wishes to become better.

In Spiritism: Repentance opens the path to relief, but it is not complete without effort and reparation when possible. Divine mercy never denies progress to the repentant spirit, but true change must be expressed through moral renewal.

Reparation

Definition: The act of repairing, compensating for or correcting the harm one has caused.

Explanation: Reparation is the practical continuation of repentance. A spirit may recognize a fault, but progress requires doing what is possible to restore balance and learn from the error.

In Spiritism: Reparation may occur in the same life, in the spirit world or through future incarnations. It is not vengeance from God, but the educational work by which the spirit learns responsibility, justice and love.

Revelation

Definition: The disclosure of a truth that was previously hidden, unknown or not fully understood.

Explanation: Revelation may be religious, moral, scientific or spiritual. In Spiritism, revelation is not treated as a closed mystery imposed without examination, but as knowledge that must be understood, tested and applied.

In Spiritism: Spiritist revelation has a distinctive character: it comes through the teachings of spirits, but its development requires human observation, reason, comparison and moral discernment.

Scale of Spirits

Definition: The classification of spirits according to their moral and intellectual advancement.

Explanation: The scale of spirits helps explain why spirit communications differ so widely. Some spirits are elevated, wise and benevolent, while others remain ignorant, proud, frivolous or attached to material passions.

In Spiritism: This classification protects against blind belief in every spirit message. The moral quality of the spirit must be judged by the content, intention and effects of its communication.

Séance

Definition: A gathering intended to obtain communication with spirits.

Explanation: In popular culture, séances are often associated with curiosity, mystery or entertainment. This is not the proper Spiritist understanding of communication with the invisible world.

In Spiritism: A serious Spiritist meeting should be guided by respect, prayer, study, moral purpose and discernment. Communication with spirits is not a game; it should aim at instruction, consolation, charity and spiritual progress.

Second Sight

Definition: A form of perception beyond ordinary physical sight.

Explanation: Second sight may involve the perception of distant, hidden or spiritual realities. In Spiritism, it is often connected with the emancipation of the soul and the partial loosening of the spirit from bodily limitations.

In Spiritism: Second sight should be studied with caution. It may reveal real perceptions, but it may also be mixed with imagination, interpretation or personal influence. Moral seriousness and reason remain necessary.

Sematology

Definition: Communication by signs, especially through the movements of inert objects.

Explanation: Sematology was one of the early forms of spirit communication studied by Spiritism. Movements, gestures or object responses could serve as signs when linked to an intelligent intention.

In Spiritism: Sematology shows that spirit communication may begin through simple signs, but its value depends on the intelligence and moral quality behind the phenomenon.

Self-Knowledge

Definition: Honest awareness of one’s own character, motives, weaknesses and virtues.

Explanation: Self-knowledge requires more than knowing one’s preferences or personality. It means looking sincerely at pride, selfishness, impatience, resentment, vanity, fear and the hidden causes of one’s behavior.

In Spiritism: Self-knowledge is essential to moral reform. A person cannot seriously progress without identifying what must be corrected, strengthened and transformed within the soul.

Simple Obsession

Definition: The first degree of obsession, in which an imperfect spirit persistently interferes with a person or medium.

Explanation: In simple obsession, the person may recognize the influence and resist it, but the disturbing spirit continues to return through repeated thoughts, impressions or communications.

In Spiritism: Simple obsession should be addressed through vigilance, prayer, humility, serious study and moral reform. It is less severe than fascination or subjugation, but it should not be ignored.

Sleep

Definition: A bodily state of rest during which the spirit may become partially freer from the physical organism.

Explanation: Spiritism teaches that sleep is not merely physical inactivity. While the body rests, the spirit may experience a partial emancipation, sometimes meeting other spirits or entering into conditions remembered imperfectly as dreams.

In Spiritism: Sleep shows that the incarnate spirit is not absolutely confined to the body. It can be a time of spiritual contact, learning or influence, though not every dream or impression should be treated as a reliable spiritual message.

See also: Dream, Emancipation of the Soul, Spirit World.

Somnambulism

Definition: A state in which the soul is more emancipated from the body, allowing unusual perception or activity.

Explanation: Somnambulism may be natural or induced through magnetic action. It was historically important in the study of consciousness, magnetism, mediumship and the emancipation of the soul.

In Spiritism: Somnambulism is not identical with mediumship, although the two may sometimes interact. It shows that the spirit can perceive and act beyond ordinary bodily conditions, but all claims still require prudence and reason.

Spirit

Definition: The intelligent being of creation, temporarily incarnate or living in the spirit world.

Explanation: In Spiritism, spirits are not supernatural exceptions to nature. They are the souls of those who have lived, or will live, in corporeal worlds. They preserve their individuality, memory and moral qualities after death.

In Spiritism: Human beings are spirits in temporary incarnation. Death does not create the spirit; it only frees the spirit from the physical body. Spirits continue to progress through experience, free will and divine law.

See also: Soul, Incarnate Spirit, Discarnate Spirit, Spirit World.

Spirit World

Definition: The invisible world inhabited by discarnate spirits.

Explanation: The spirit world is not distant from humanity in a purely spatial sense. It surrounds and interacts with the material world, though under conditions that are not perceived by the ordinary senses.

In Spiritism: The spirit world is the normal world of spirits and continues beyond the temporary life of the body. Its inhabitants differ in moral and intellectual condition, which explains the variety of communications, influences and spiritual states after death.

Spirit Hierarchy

Definition: The order of spirits according to their degree of purification, knowledge and moral development.

Explanation: Spirit hierarchy is not based on social rank, ritual authority or external power. It reflects the inner progress of the spirit: from imperfection and ignorance toward wisdom, charity and purity.

In Spiritism: Understanding spirit hierarchy helps avoid the mistake of treating every spirit as equally reliable. Higher spirits teach goodness and truth; imperfect spirits may deceive, confuse or express their own limitations.

Spirit Communication

Definition: The exchange of thoughts, messages or influence between spirits and incarnate human beings.

Explanation: Spirit communication is the general Spiritist category that includes psychography, psychophony, intuitive impressions, physical effects, dreams, hearing, seeing and other forms of mediumistic or spiritual exchange.

In Spiritism: Spirit communication must be judged by its content, not by the name or authority claimed by the communicating spirit. Reason, consistency, humility, charity and moral usefulness are the safest criteria. For the common practical question, see Communication with Spirits.

Spiritist

Definition: A person who accepts or studies the principles of Spiritism.

Explanation: A Spiritist is not simply someone who believes in ghosts or spirit phenomena. Spiritism includes belief in God, the immortality of the soul, reincarnation, moral law, mediumship and spiritual progress.

In Spiritism: A true Spiritist is recognized less by labels than by effort toward moral improvement. Study, charity, humility and responsibility are more important than curiosity about phenomena.

Spiritist Center

Definition: A place or group dedicated to Spiritist study, prayer, moral education, charity and spiritual assistance.

Explanation: A Spiritist center is not a temple of ritual power or a place for spectacle. Its purpose is to offer study of Spiritist principles, Gospel reflection, fraternal assistance, mediumistic work when appropriate and practical charity.

In Spiritism: In Spiritism, the value of a center depends on seriousness, humility, discipline and service. It should help people understand spiritual life, practice charity and pursue moral improvement.

Spiritist Doctrine

Definition: The body of principles codified by Allan Kardec concerning God, spirits, the soul, reincarnation, mediumship, moral law and the future life.

Explanation: The Spiritist Doctrine is not merely the belief that spirits exist. It is a philosophical, moral and experimental doctrine based on observation, reason, the comparison of spirit communications and the moral teachings of higher spirits.

In Spiritism: The doctrine explains where we come from, why we live, what continues after death and how the spirit progresses. Its practical purpose is moral transformation through charity, self-knowledge, responsibility and spiritual progress.

Spiritist Meeting

Definition: A serious gathering for study, prayer, moral instruction or mediumistic work according to Spiritist principles.

Explanation: A Spiritist meeting is not meant for entertainment, spectacle or curiosity. Its atmosphere should be respectful, sincere and morally focused.

In Spiritism: Serious meetings attract more useful spiritual assistance. The intention of the group, its discipline, humility and charity influence the quality of the spiritual environment and communications.

Spiritism

Definition: The doctrine codified by Allan Kardec based on the existence, survival and communication of spirits, together with the moral laws that govern spiritual progress.

Explanation: Spiritism studies the relationship between the visible material world and the invisible spirit world. It teaches the immortality of the soul, reincarnation, the plurality of existences, the moral consequences of actions, mediumship and the progressive evolution of spirits.

In Spiritism: Spiritism is not magic, superstition or simple curiosity about the dead. Its aim is moral improvement, rational faith, consolation, responsibility and a clearer understanding of life before and after death.

Spiritist Revelation

Definition: The revelation brought by Spiritism concerning the spirit world, the soul, moral law and the future life.

Explanation: Spiritist revelation is not based on one person, one medium or one isolated message. Its authority comes from reason, observation and the concordance of teachings given through many spirits and mediums.

In Spiritism: Spiritist revelation is both spiritual and rational. It invites examination, comparison and moral application rather than blind acceptance. Its purpose is to enlighten, console and help humanity progress.

Spiritual Influence

Definition: The action of spirits upon the thoughts, emotions, intentions or circumstances of incarnate people.

Explanation: Spiritual influence may be good, neutral, frivolous or harmful depending on the spirit and the moral affinity involved. Spirits may suggest, encourage, disturb, comfort or mislead, but they do not remove human responsibility.

In Spiritism: The best way to attract good influence is to cultivate good thoughts, prayer, humility, charity and moral discipline. Lower influences lose strength when the person changes the inner conditions that allowed them to connect.

Spiritual Aid / Spiritist Assistance

Definition: Help offered through prayer, guidance, moral support, fluidic assistance or the influence of good spirits.

Explanation: Spiritual aid may support someone facing grief, obsession, illness, moral struggle or spiritual confusion. It does not remove free will or replace personal effort, but offers strength, clarity and encouragement.

In Spiritism: Spiritist assistance should be charitable, discreet and responsible. Its aim is not dependency or miracle-seeking, but consolation, moral awakening, balance and renewed commitment to the good.

Spiritualism

Definition: The general belief that something spiritual or immaterial exists beyond matter.

Explanation: Spiritualism is the opposite of materialism. A person may be a spiritualist by believing in the soul, God or a spiritual principle, even without accepting spirit communication or the specific teachings of Spiritism.

In Spiritism: Kardec distinguished spiritualism from Spiritism to avoid confusion. Every Spiritist is a spiritualist, because Spiritism affirms the spiritual nature of the soul; but not every spiritualist is a Spiritist, because Spiritism is a specific doctrine with its own principles, method and moral purpose.

Spirituality

Definition: Concern with spiritual reality, inner life, moral meaning and the relationship between the human being and what is higher than material existence.

Explanation: Spirituality can be understood in many ways, from personal reflection to religious devotion. It may be serious and transformative, or vague and self-centered depending on how it is lived.

In Spiritism: True spirituality is measured by moral progress. Contact with spiritual ideas has little value if it does not make a person more humble, charitable, responsible and useful to others.

Soul

Definition: The incarnate spirit, or the spiritual and immortal principle of the human being.

Explanation: The soul is not a product of the body. It is the thinking, feeling and morally responsible being that uses the body during earthly life and survives after death.

In Spiritism: During incarnation, the spirit may be called the soul. After death, the soul continues as a discarnate spirit. Its individuality, conscience and progress do not end with the physical organism.

Subjugation

Definition: A serious form of obsession in which an imperfect spirit exerts strong influence over a person’s will or actions.

Explanation: Subjugation may affect thoughts, impulses, emotions or even bodily behavior. It should not be confused with ordinary temptation, mental distress or personal weakness, although these factors may interact.

In Spiritism: Subjugation requires moral and spiritual treatment, not fear or spectacle. Prayer, inner reform, serious assistance, humility and charity toward the obsessing spirit are essential to liberation.

Suffering Spirits

Definition: Spirits who experience pain, confusion, remorse or distress after death.

Explanation: Suffering spirits may be attached to earthly life, unaware of their condition, burdened by guilt or trapped in the consequences of their choices. Their suffering reflects their inner state rather than an arbitrary sentence.

In Spiritism: Suffering spirits need compassion, prayer and enlightenment. Spiritism teaches that no spirit is abandoned forever; suffering can become the beginning of repentance, reparation and progress.

Sympathy / Spiritual Affinity

Definition: The attraction between spirits based on similarity of thoughts, feelings, tendencies or moral condition.

Explanation: Spiritual affinity explains why certain people or spirits feel naturally drawn to one another. Affinity may be elevated, based on love and virtue, or inferior, based on shared passions, resentment, vanity or material attachment.

In Spiritism: Spiritism teaches that thoughts and moral habits shape spiritual company. By cultivating prayer, charity, forgiveness and self-improvement, a person gradually changes the affinities that influence their inner and spiritual life.

Suicide

Definition: The deliberate act of ending one’s own physical life.

Explanation: Spiritism treats suicide with seriousness and compassion, not condemnation without understanding. It teaches that life is a sacred opportunity for progress and that voluntarily breaking the bodily experience can bring painful spiritual consequences.

In Spiritism: The suffering connected with suicide is not eternal punishment, but the result of moral law, conscience and the disruption of a planned earthly experience. Prayer, compassion and spiritual assistance are important for those who suffer, both incarnate and discarnate.

Superstition

Definition: A belief or practice based on fear, ignorance or false associations rather than reason and moral truth.

Explanation: Superstition often arises when real phenomena are misunderstood or surrounded by exaggeration, ritual fear or magical thinking.

In Spiritism: Spiritism seeks to remove superstition from spiritual matters. It studies spirit phenomena as part of natural law and insists that true spiritual understanding must be rational, moral and directed toward improvement.

Tangible Apparition

Definition: An apparition that can temporarily be perceived not only by sight, but also by touch.

Explanation: In Spiritism, tangible apparitions are connected with the properties of the perispirit and the action of spiritual fluids. They are considered rare and exceptional phenomena.

In Spiritism: Tangible apparitions should be studied with caution and seriousness. Their importance is not in producing wonder, but in helping explain how spirits may manifest through fluidic laws under particular conditions.

Theism

Definition: Belief in God as the living source and ruler of creation.

Explanation: Theism differs from atheism, which rejects belief in God, and from deism when deism understands God mainly as a distant creator without active providence. Theism affirms a meaningful relationship between God, creation and moral life.

In Spiritism: Spiritism is theistic because it affirms God as Supreme Intelligence, First Cause, just and good. This belief is inseparable from divine law, providence, free will, moral responsibility and progress.

Theosophy

Definition: A broad esoteric movement and body of teachings concerned with hidden wisdom, spiritual evolution and the unseen dimensions of existence.

Explanation: Theosophy has its own vocabulary and historical development, especially in modern esoteric movements. It may use terms such as astral body, planes and occult initiation in ways that differ from Kardecist Spiritism.

In Spiritism: Spiritism should not be confused with Theosophy. Kardecist Spiritism is based on the study of spirits, mediumship, moral law, reincarnation and the rational comparison of teachings, without secret initiation or esoteric hierarchy.

Thought

Definition: An expression of the spirit’s inner life, intention and moral direction.

Explanation: Thought is not morally neutral in Spiritism. It can elevate, heal, encourage and attract good influences, or it can disturb, darken and connect the person with inferior spiritual influences.

In Spiritism: Since spirits influence one another through thought, inner discipline is part of spiritual responsibility. Prayer, good will, forgiveness and sincere moral effort help purify thought and improve spiritual affinity.

Transfiguration

Definition: A phenomenon in which the appearance of a person seems temporarily altered by spiritual or fluidic influence.

Explanation: Transfiguration may involve changes in expression, features or appearance connected with the action of a spirit upon the medium’s perispiritual and physical conditions.

In Spiritism: Transfiguration belongs to the study of mediumistic phenomena and the relationship between spirit, perispirit and matter. It should never be treated as spectacle, but as a subject requiring prudence, observation and moral seriousness.

Transmigration

Definition: A general term for the passage of the soul or spiritual principle from one life or body to another.

Explanation: Transmigration is used in several religious and philosophical traditions, sometimes with meanings that differ from Spiritist reincarnation. In some systems, it may include ideas that Spiritism does not accept, such as the regression of a human soul into an animal body.

In Spiritism: Spiritism teaches reincarnation as the progressive return of the spirit to corporeal life for learning and moral advancement. It rejects the idea that a human spirit can regress into animal existence as punishment.

Trial

Definition: A difficult experience that tests, educates or strengthens the spirit.

Explanation: A trial is not always an expiation for a past fault. It may be a chosen or permitted situation through which the spirit develops patience, courage, humility, compassion or detachment.

In Spiritism: Trials are part of spiritual education. They reveal inner weaknesses, awaken virtues and create opportunities for progress. Their value depends on how the spirit responds to them.

Typtology

Definition: Spirit communication through raps, knocks or tilts, often used to indicate letters, numbers or simple answers.

Explanation: Typtology was one of the early methods of spirit communication. By agreed signals, raps or movements could form words, names or responses.

In Spiritism: Typtology is historically important, but it is a primitive and limited form of communication. Its value lies in showing intelligent action, not in replacing serious moral and philosophical instruction.

Typter

Definition: A medium especially suited to receiving communications through typtology.

Explanation: The term belongs to classical Spiritist vocabulary and refers to mediums involved in raps, knocks or tilting movements used as signs.

In Spiritism: Typter mediumship is part of the historical study of physical manifestations. Like all mediumship, it should be practiced only with seriousness, humility and moral purpose.

Unity of God

Definition: The principle that God is one, unique and the supreme source of all creation.

Explanation: The unity of God rejects polytheistic division of divine power and any idea of competing divine beings. It affirms that the universe is governed by one supreme intelligence and one coherent divine law.

In Spiritism: In Spiritism, the unity of God supports the unity of natural and moral law. All spirits, worlds and forms of progress belong to the same divine order, directed by justice, goodness and wisdom.

Universal Cosmic Fluid

Definition: The fundamental fluidic element from which matter and spiritual phenomena are understood to derive their forms and properties.

Explanation: In Spiritist teachings, the universal cosmic fluid is not a poetic metaphor or a New Age concept. It is a technical idea used to explain the relationship between matter, perispirit, fluids and spirit action.

In Spiritism: The universal cosmic fluid helps explain apparitions, fluidic influence, healing action, perispiritual forms and certain phenomena once considered supernatural. It remains subject to divine law and is not independent of God.

Universal Test of the Spirits’ Teachings

Definition: The Spiritist method of testing teachings through their agreement across many serious communications, mediums and places.

Explanation: Spiritism does not accept a doctrine merely because one spirit, one medium or one group declares it. A teaching must be examined by reason, moral value and concordance with the broader body of elevated spirit teachings.

In Spiritism: This principle protects Spiritism from personal theories, false revelations and isolated claims. It reinforces humility, prudence and the need to submit spiritual teachings to logic, moral goodness and universal agreement.

Vice and Virtue

Definition: Vice is a harmful moral tendency that binds the spirit to imperfection; virtue is a good quality that brings the spirit closer to divine law.

Explanation: Vices such as pride, selfishness, anger, greed or cruelty delay progress and create suffering. Virtues such as humility, charity, patience, forgiveness and justice strengthen the spirit and improve its future condition.

In Spiritism: Spiritual progress is the gradual victory of virtue over vice. Knowledge alone does not purify the spirit; transformation requires effort, self-knowledge, repentance, reparation and the practice of good.

Vision

Definition: A visual perception that may be physical, psychological or spiritual in nature.

Explanation: In spiritual contexts, visions may involve apparitions, symbolic images, second sight or perceptions connected with the emancipation of the soul. Not every vision is necessarily a spirit manifestation.

In Spiritism: Visions require discernment. Their value depends on their clarity, moral effect, consistency and usefulness. Spiritism avoids both blind rejection and blind acceptance of extraordinary perceptions.

Vital Principle

Definition: The principle that gives life to organic beings during physical existence.

Explanation: Spiritism distinguishes the vital principle from the soul. Plants, animals and human bodies live through organic life, but the immortal spirit is a distinct intelligent principle.

In Spiritism: The vital principle explains physical life, while the spirit explains intelligence, individuality, moral responsibility and survival after death. Death occurs when the body can no longer sustain organic life, but the spirit continues.

Vocation / Spiritual Mission

Definition: A task, responsibility or direction of service that a spirit may assume during an incarnation.

Explanation: A spiritual mission should not be confused with vanity, privilege or the belief that one is superior to others. It may appear through family duties, professional work, moral trials, teaching, service, consolation or quiet acts of charity.

In Spiritism: In Spiritism, every incarnation has useful opportunities for progress and service. Some spirits may receive more defined missions, but their value is measured by humility, perseverance, charity and fidelity to the good, not by status or public recognition.

Wandering Spirit

Definition: Another expression for an errant spirit, meaning a spirit in the interval between incarnations.

Explanation: Wandering does not necessarily mean lost or aimless. It refers to the spirit’s state outside corporeal incarnation, before a new earthly or material life.

In Spiritism: Wandering spirits may be peaceful, active, confused, learning, suffering or preparing for future incarnation. Their condition depends on their moral and intellectual progress.

Worlds of Expiation and Trials

Definition: Worlds where spirits undergo difficult experiences suited to moral correction, learning and progress.

Explanation: Such worlds are not places of divine abandonment. They are stages of education where spirits face the consequences of imperfection and learn through effort, suffering, solidarity and moral choice.

In Spiritism: Earth is commonly understood in Spiritism as a world of expiation and trials. Its difficulties reflect the needs of the spirits who inhabit it, while its progress depends on the moral improvement of humanity.

Worlds of Regeneration

Definition: Worlds where spirits are more advanced morally than in worlds of expiation and trials, though not yet perfect.

Explanation: Regenerative worlds are transitional stages. Evil is less dominant, suffering is reduced and social life is more guided by justice, fraternity and spiritual awareness.

In Spiritism: Worlds of regeneration show that progress applies not only to individual spirits, but also to collective humanity and planetary conditions. As spirits improve, the worlds they inhabit also advance.

Worship

Definition: The act of honoring, revering or turning the soul toward God.

Explanation: Worship may take external forms, such as prayer, ritual or gathering, but its real value depends on sincerity, humility and moral intention.

In Spiritism: True worship is not limited to words or ceremonies. It is expressed through love of God, charity toward others, moral reform and the sincere effort to live according to divine law.

Xenoglossy

Definition: The claimed ability to speak or write in a language not learned by ordinary means.

Explanation: Xenoglossy is sometimes discussed in studies of mediumship, reincarnation or exceptional psychological phenomena. It requires careful examination because errors, memory, imitation and suggestion can easily complicate interpretation.

In Spiritism: If genuine, xenoglossy may be related to mediumistic influence or memories connected with the spirit’s past. Spiritism would still judge the phenomenon carefully and would not treat it as morally important unless it leads to useful understanding or progress.

Yoke / Easy Yoke

Definition: A Gospel expression referring to the spiritual relief found in humility, trust in God and moral acceptance of duty.

Explanation: The “easy yoke” does not mean a life without trials. It means that suffering becomes lighter when the soul understands its purpose, trusts divine justice and lives with faith, patience and love.

In Spiritism: Spiritism connects this idea with consolation, reincarnation, trials and moral progress. Life’s burdens become more understandable when seen as part of the spirit’s education and future happiness.

Zeal

Definition: Strong dedication or enthusiasm for a belief, duty or spiritual purpose.

Explanation: Zeal can be noble when guided by humility, charity and reason. It can become harmful when mixed with pride, fanaticism, intolerance or the desire to impose one’s views on others.

In Spiritism: True Spiritist zeal is shown through moral example, service, patience and clarity. It should never become aggression, superiority or blind enthusiasm. The best way to defend Spiritism is to live its moral teachings.