Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Practical Guide for the Spiritist: Handbook on Personal Conduct
    A Practical Guide for the Spiritist: Handbook on Personal Conduct
    A Practical Guide for the Spiritist: Handbook on Personal Conduct
    Ebook105 pages1 hour

    A Practical Guide for the Spiritist: Handbook on Personal Conduct

    By Edgar Crespo

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Having faced adversity and tragedy in his early life, Miguel Vives found salvation in Spiritism and renown and success as a healing and spiritual medium. Yet while Vives made his mark as a nineteenth-century Spiritist, for anyone who is determined to achieve moral and spiritual advancement in this lifetime and beyond, his teachings shine as a twenty-first century beacon of inspiration and affirmation.

    In this concise guidebook, translated from Spanish by Edgar Crespo, Vives draws a precise roadmap that shows how we can reach a new level of spiritual fulfillment and a profound sense of peace and communion with humanity. Based on his understanding of the natural and spiritual law of reincarnation, Vives provides guidelines for our obligations to our Creator and to Jesus-based on a universal moral code that goes beyond any creed or religion.

    Vives also shows how we are to behave with love and charity with our families, with ourselves, and with all other persons, even those who bring heartache and pain. Steered by an abiding devotion to moral and ethical conduct, Vives spells out how we can obtain the moral courage to triumph over the challenges of life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateAug 1, 2007
    ISBN9780595895175
    A Practical Guide for the Spiritist: Handbook on Personal Conduct
    Author

    Edgar Crespo

    Edgar Crespo is a fourth-generation Spiritist and was the director of a Spiritist center for many years. He attended the University of Hawaii and had a career in civilian government. Crespo and his wife, Yolanda, have been married for more than thirty years and live in Florida.

    Related to A Practical Guide for the Spiritist

    Related ebooks

    New Age & Spirituality For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Cleansing Ceremony

      Jan 30, 2019

      A Cleansing Ceremony
      5 min read

    • Article

      No 7 Surf's Up In Africa

      Sep 25, 2017

      No 7 Surf's Up In Africa
      1 min read

    • Article

      Daughters Of The Moon

      Jun 1, 2017

      Daughters Of The Moon
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Obeah Man’s Son

      May 4, 2021

      The Obeah Man’s Son
      6 min read

    • Article

      Faith For Troubled Times

      May 18, 2021

      Faith For Troubled Times
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Rosary In My Pocket

      May 23, 2023

      A Rosary In My Pocket
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Heart Of A Story

      Mar 22, 2022

      The Heart Of A Story
      4 min read

    • Article

      Divine Wake-up Call

      Nov 26, 2020

      Divine Wake-up Call
      5 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Sep 18, 2018

      By Elaine Pagels Ecco 2018; 240 pp., $27.99 (cloth) A renowned academic and bestselling religion author, Elaine Pagels grew up in an aloof, scientifically-minded family. Then, when she was fifteen years old, she tagged along with some friends to hear

      5 min read

    • Article

      Tears Become Rain

      Sep 19, 2023

      WITH HER CHILD experiencing mental health challenges, Celia Landman long blamed herself. “At times in my life, I’ve encountered so much pain I questioned why I became a parent,” she writes in When the Whole World Tips: Parenting Through Crisis with M

      4 min read

    • Article

      Qalvy Grainzvolt

      Nov 22, 2022

      Qalvy Grainzvolt
      2 min read

    • Article

      Heart To Heart

      Jan 24, 2023

      Heart To Heart
      4 min read

    • Article

      Joseph R. Lee Analyses Dreams

      Feb 27, 2020

      Joseph R. Lee Analyses Dreams
      22 min read

    • Article

      Dr. Anouk Aimée Shambrook

      Sep 19, 2023

      I’M A BLACK BUDDHIST teacher in a troubled America. I was raised in a conservative white town in Southern California. My Haitian mother and Irish father raised my siblings and me Catholic. They also introduced us to Buddhist philosophy. Maman would l

      2 min read

    • Article

      BOOKMARK THIS read…listen…stream

      Jan 26, 2021

      The Path Back to Connection in a Fractured World Sarah Wilson • Dey St. Anyone who read Sarah Wilson’s First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, her remarkable 2018 memoir about shifting our approach to anxiety and mental illness, will have high expectatio

      8 min read

    • Article

      Ride The Waves

      Mar 21, 2023

      Ride The Waves
      4 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Jan 31, 2020

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Dark Side of Awe

      Jan 29, 2024

      The Dark Side of Awe
      10 min read

    • Article

      Jen Soriano

      Aug 16, 2023

      Jen Soriano
      3 min read

    • Article

      Does Your Soul Need Therapy?

      Sep 1, 2019

      Does Your Soul Need Therapy?
      6 min read

    • Article

      More From Lion’s Roar

      Jul 20, 2021

      More From Lion’s Roar
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Practical Guide for the Spiritist

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Practical Guide for the Spiritist - Edgar Crespo

      Copyright © 2007 by Edgar Crespo

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse 2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100 Lincoln, NE 68512 www.iuniverse.com 1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

      The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      ISBN: 978-0-595-45207-1 (pbk)

      ISBN: 978-0-595-89517-5 (ebk)

      Printed in the United States of America

      Dedicated to my dear wife, Yolanda

      Contents

      Translator’s note

      Preface

      Chapter 1  How a spiritist should be before god

      Chapter 2  How a spiritist should be before the master and teacher jesus

      Chapter 3  How spiritists should be with each other and within spiritist centers

      Chapter 4  How a spiritist should be before humanity

      Chapter 5  How a spiritist should be within his or her family

      Chapter 6  How a spiritist should be with oneself

      Chapter 7  How a spiritist should support the sufferings and pain of life

      Chapter 8  How should spiritist centers be?

      Chapter 9  Temptation—its many forms and the manner to combat it

      Chapter 10  Spiritists, we have a treasure in our hands

      Conclusion

      Translator’s Note 

      In the 1850s, starting with the movement of objects such as table-turning that became amusements in the salons all over Europe, the spirit world was able to bring more intelligent and detailed knowledge of spiritual realities later through the use of persons called mediums that received spirit communications through writing and trance. During this time, a French professor and educator known by his nom de plume Allan Kardec, founded and became president (until his death in 1869) of The Parisian Society of Psychological Studies. As they held séances and studied spirit phenomenon, Kardec (who was not a medium) compiled a list of important questions to ask the spirits. Based on their replies, including spirit communications received from other mediums from groups around the world, through observation, investigation, and using a most vigorous logic and reason, and through analysis and experience, he came to the conclusion that the spirits’ replies constituted a new theory of human life, duty, and destiny which especially, provided the reason for the purpose of material life and why mankind suffers. Kardec coined the word Spiritism to describe this study of the spiritual science of the relation of the material world with spirits and the moral philosophy it also revealed.

      In order for mankind to truly comprehend the Cosmos it should study both its material and spiritual aspects. Kardec, by compiling, sorting, and publishing the material his society collected, contributed to knowledge of spiritual matters received from the spirit world in the following books: The Spirits Book, The Mediums Book, The Gospel According to Spiritism, Heaven and Hell, Genesis, and a few others. This body of work forms the base of what is called the Spiritist Doctrine of which belief in reincarnation is one of its main tenets. After the published works of Kardec, the indomitable Leon Denis, called by many the Apostle of Spiritism, admirably continued further elucidation and dissemination of Spiritism in France, writing numerous books that are considered very authoritative on this profound subject.

      Spain also had their highly respected Spiritists; two giants in the field were Miguel Vives (an excellent medium, spiritual healer, and gifted orator) and Amalia Domingo Soler (an inspirational poet and writer). I translated from the original Spanish one of Ms. Soler’s books entitled Memoirs of Father Germain that is now available for the first time in English, published in 2006. Both individuals (who knew each other) had great humility, integrity, and a tremendous comprehension of the intricacies of Spiritism. Their books are considered Spiritist classics and are still printed up to the present day.

      Being a fourth generation Spiritist, I am now extremely pleased to most humbly present the first English translation from the original Spanish A Practical Guide for the Spiritist written by the above mentioned, Miguel Vives. I sincerely did my best, as God is my witness, and I am very thankful for the spiritual inspiration I believe I received in carrying out this important work. I am especially indebted to my daughter Yvonne Crespo Limoges for her faithful dedication in editing the text, and to her daughter, Alysia Mikesell Pape’s assistance for her technical computer expertise. Also, I am appreciative for Julie L. Harper’s proofreading and beneficial suggestions. Most significantly, my daughter and I want to extend our love and heartfelt appreciation to Margaret Lizardi-Fiore for her very generous contribution to finally permit the publishing of this important book.

      As for Miguel Vives, his life was full of tragedy. Born December 1842 in Barcelona, Spain, he was only two years old when his mother died. Then, when he was eleven years old, his father died, so he went to live with his brother Augusto. In 1866, at age twenty-four, he married for the first time. What was to be a happy event ended with the sudden death of his wife during their honeymoon. After this incident, he entered into a severe depression and was so mentally and physically ill that he could do nothing for five years. It was his brother who introduced him finally to Spiritism and that is what eventually saved him.

      Mr.Vives enthusiastically started a Spiritist study group, conducted spirit sessions, and developed his mediumship. He became a very powerful healing medium and succeeded in alleviating, and many times curing, people suffering from illnesses wherein the medical profession had failed. He eventually founded the Human Fraternity Spiritist center in 1872 in Tarrasa, Spain, and was its president for thirty years. Amalia Domingo Soler visited his center, and he at times visited and assisted at her center, named The Good News, in Gracia, Spain. Ms. Soler was impressed by the mediumship and virtues of Mr.Vives. She explained her first encounter with him, like this, Ifelt I was listening to an early apostle of Christianity, it was if I was transported back to the times of Jesus, then slowly my soul became accustomed to that atmosphere of serenity and humility. Many knew Mr. Vives as the Apostle of Goodness because of his frequent assistance to those in need. He was very humble and charitable, and had the habit of inviting the poor into his own home (even during his own daughter’s wedding).

      Mr.Vives eventually married a second time to a woman who also was a Spiritist, but their nine-year-old son died unexpectedly in 1882, and only their firm belief in Spiritism served as comfort.

      In that same year, he established the Spiritist Federation of Valles that, from 1885 through 1889, published the newsletter The Spiritist Lighthouse (later called the Journal of Psychological Studies of Barcelona). He participated in, and helped organize the first World Spiritualist Congress in Barcelona, Spain in 1888, and also, the second one in Paris, France in 1889. In May of 1891, he moved to Barcelona and was elected president of the Barcelona Center for Psychological Studies. In addition, he visited Spanish government officials to try to convince them to have social institutions teach Spiritist moral philosophy.

      When Miguel Vives left this earth on January 1906, many employers shut down their businesses to allow their workers off from work in order for them to pay their respects to this honorable man, and over five thousand people attended his funeral.

      The book Mr.Vives left us with, in his A Practical Guide for the Spiritist written in 1903, explains how we should conduct ourselves based on the moral philosophy (the same universal moral code that Jesus taught) and the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine (primarily belief in the spirit world with its influence upon those in the material world and soul progression through reincarnation). Please note that although Mr.Vives primarily uses the masculine pronoun throughout his book, the advice he gives is for everyone. It is especially for those who are extremely serious regarding their own personal betterment. He does not mince any words in presenting a strict view in what proper moral conduct should be in all the areas of our life. He is passionate and specific in his discussions regarding the fulfillment of our duties to ourselves, our families, towards our fellow

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1