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Rating: 
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ALL SPIRITISM FOLLOWERS
Review: As a new follower of the sprit movement in Brazil, I found this book to be the second most important book I have every read.....The Bible being first. It is an intelligent explaination of what was always a mistery to me. I have been uplifted to a new level of love and charity.
Rating:
Summary: An unsurpassed classic
Review: I have read dozens of books about mediumship and perhaps several hundred on psychical research and the paranormal. It's astonishing, and a little depressing, that this -- in my judgment among the best studies of mediumship and communication with the "other side" -- was written almost a century and a half ago! Despite much important research since by the Society for Psychical Research and many others, this is a field in which substantive knowledge grows very slowly.The Book on Mediums isn't scientific in the modern sense. Nothing in it can be objectively proven under laboratory conditions, which is the gold standard and the reason that phenomena such as mediumship are very hard to investigate in a way that will answer the objections of skeptics. If you are doubtful about mediumship (and you have every right to be, until you are convinced), reading this isn't guaranteed to change your mind. Nevertheless, I think it's a work of extraordinary quality, especially when compared with the large amount of flim-flam and rubbish that exists on the subject. Based on Allan Kardec's many years of experience with mediums and mediumistic circles, and conversations with spirits of a high moral and intellectual caliber (many excerpts of which are transcribed in the book), this text is logically sound and intuitively feels right to me. I don't actually know that much about Kardec other than a few basic facts, such as that he was a 19th century Frenchman who founded a movement called Spiritism (not to be confused with the church of Spiritualism). It is evident from his book that he was, if not formally a scientist, nevertheless a man who approached mediumship in a scientific spirit. He did not rely on only one discarnate source for information, but collected and compared data from numerous sources and mediums. Although obviously convinced of the reality and importance of communication with spirits of those who have passed out of physical life to a nonmaterial plane, Kardec did not take anything at face value. He emphasizes again and again that spirits are not necessarily wise or ethical. Newcomers to psychic readings are usually concerned about whether the medium is honest. (The great majority are, although some are more talented than others.) As Kardec makes clear, the much greater cause for concern is whether the spirits who come through are to be trusted. A great many of them are foolish, trivial time-wasters who delight in pretending to be famous historical figures or founts of spiritual knowledge. Kardec probes deeply into the different types of mediumship, the best conditions for mediumship, and the best ways to relate to spirits that come through. There are, he shows, many good and wise spirits who are willing to connect with you through mediums -- but they will not waste their efforts if they sense that you are seeking them out as a game, to test them or to obtain information for improving your finances or gaining power. For anyone just beginning to explore the subject of mediumship and communication with spirits, The Book on Mediums (and very likely the companion volume, the Book on Spirits, which I haven't read) seems to me an ideal place to start. But even those who are well seasoned in the literature of psychical research should find this extraordinarily rewarding. The translation dates from the 19th century and the style is a bit formal by modern standards, but presents no difficulties.
Rating:
Summary: An unsurpassed classic
Review: I have read dozens of books about mediumship and perhaps several hundred on psychical research and the paranormal. It's astonishing, and a little depressing, that this -- in my judgment among the best studies of mediumship and communication with the "other side" -- was written almost a century and a half ago! Despite much important research since by the Society for Psychical Research and many others, this is a field in which substantive knowledge grows very slowly. The Book on Mediums isn't scientific in the modern sense. Nothing in it can be objectively proven under laboratory conditions, which is the gold standard and the reason that phenomena such as mediumship are very hard to investigate in a way that will answer the objections of skeptics. If you are doubtful about mediumship (and you have every right to be, until you are convinced), reading this isn't guaranteed to change your mind. Nevertheless, I think it's a work of extraordinary quality, especially when compared with the large amount of flim-flam and rubbish that exists on the subject. Based on Allan Kardec's many years of experience with mediums and mediumistic circles, and conversations with spirits of a high moral and intellectual caliber (many excerpts of which are transcribed in the book), this text is logically sound and intuitively feels right to me. I don't actually know that much about Kardec other than a few basic facts, such as that he was a 19th century Frenchman who founded a movement called Spiritism (not to be confused with the church of Spiritualism). It is evident from his book that he was, if not formally a scientist, nevertheless a man who approached mediumship in a scientific spirit. He did not rely on only one discarnate source for information, but collected and compared data from numerous sources and mediums. Although obviously convinced of the reality and importance of communication with spirits of those who have passed out of physical life to a nonmaterial plane, Kardec did not take anything at face value. He emphasizes again and again that spirits are not necessarily wise or ethical. Newcomers to psychic readings are usually concerned about whether the medium is honest. (The great majority are, although some are more talented than others.) As Kardec makes clear, the much greater cause for concern is whether the spirits who come through are to be trusted. A great many of them are foolish, trivial time-wasters who delight in pretending to be famous historical figures or founts of spiritual knowledge. Kardec probes deeply into the different types of mediumship, the best conditions for mediumship, and the best ways to relate to spirits that come through. There are, he shows, many good and wise spirits who are willing to connect with you through mediums -- but they will not waste their efforts if they sense that you are seeking them out as a game, to test them or to obtain information for improving your finances or gaining power. For anyone just beginning to explore the subject of mediumship and communication with spirits, The Book on Mediums (and very likely the companion volume, the Book on Spirits, which I haven't read) seems to me an ideal place to start. But even those who are well seasoned in the literature of psychical research should find this extraordinarily rewarding. The translation dates from the 19th century and the style is a bit formal by modern standards, but presents no difficulties.
Rating:
Summary: Well Done!
Review: I have to say that I have been practicing for years, and it's very comforting to know that there are old "source books" out there. This one should Accompany "The Spirit's Book"
But, if you have been active in mediumship, this is a nessecity!
In Haste -
Borealis
Rating:
Summary: Classic of the Spiritism Movement.
Review: One of the most important books of the Spiritism Movement, second only to the book of Spirits, which is considered to be the bible of Spiritism. This is a book that should be read as in a group setting, a study group of mediums, where people can discuss the contexts, and by doing so learning from it better. The Book of Mediums, is just that, a guide for mediums on Spirits, that touches on topics such as Spirit manifestations, Haunting, communicating with Spirits, and invocations. This is one of those important Books that should be in the personal library of ever mediums, psychics, and student of the occult as well.
Rating:
Summary: Classic of the Spiritism Movement.
Review: One of the most important books of the Spiritism Movement, second only to the book of Spirits, which is considered to be the bible of Spiritism. This is a book that should be read as in a group setting, a study group of mediums, where people can discuss the contexts, and by doing so learning from it better. The Book of Mediums, is just that, a guide for mediums on Spirits, that touches on topics such as Spirit manifestations, Haunting, communicating with Spirits, and invocations. This is one of those important Books that should be in the personal library of ever mediums, psychics, and student of the occult as well.
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