Kardecist Spiritism

Kardecist Spiritism is a spiritualist doctrine founded by Allan Kardec in nineteenth-century France. It teaches that spirits survive bodily death, communicate with the living, reincarnate, and progress morally.

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Spirit: A nonmaterial conscious being that, in Spiritist doctrine, survives the death of the body. Spiritism treats spirits as enduring persons capable of learning and communicating.
Allan Kardec: The pen name of French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who codified Spiritism. Kardec organized reported spirit communications into the doctrine's foundational texts.
Spiritist center: A local institution where Spiritists gather for study, worship, charitable work, and related activities. Centers provide community settings for practicing and teaching Kardecist Spiritism.
Christianity: A religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the belief that he is the Son of God. Spiritism uses Christian ethical language but differs from many churches on reincarnation and spirit communication.
Reincarnation: The belief that a soul or spirit lives through successive embodied lives. Repeated lives provide the setting for the moral progress Spiritism attributes to spirits.
The Spirits' Book: Allan Kardec's 1857 book presenting Spiritist teachings through questions and purported spirit answers. This work established the doctrine's framework and is commonly treated as its foundational text.
Spiritist healing: Healing practices understood by Spiritists as involving spiritual influence or assistance. Some Spiritist communities connect spiritual care with healing services and charitable support.
Theosophy: A modern esoteric movement that seeks spiritual knowledge through teachings about hidden realities and human evolution. Both address spiritual development, but Theosophy draws on a distinct synthesis of esoteric and religious traditions.
Mediumship: The claimed ability to perceive or communicate with spirits. Mediumship is the principal means by which Spiritist teachings describe contact between living people and spirits.
The Book on Mediums: Allan Kardec's 1861 manual on mediumship, spirit communications, and their interpretation. It sets out practices and cautions for the communications central to Spiritist study.