Spiritualist seance: what goes into it and how it is told

Modern Spiritualism began in 1848 in Hydesville, New York, where the Fox sisters said they could talk with a spirit by raps. A seance is a sitting in which a medium is said to contact the dead for a group. The movement spread rapidly across the United States and Britain, drawn by loss after the Civil War and the First World War.

This is an outline of a custom, said as belief and practice. It is not instruction, it does not say that the rite works, and it is not medical advice.

What goes into it

Table and chairsObjectWhere sitters gather.
Dim light or candleObjectOften used in the sitting.
Hymn or prayerWordOpens the sitting.
MediumGestureSaid to enter trance.
Spirit guideSpaceClaimed by the medium as a helper.

Object
Word
Gesture
Space

Each part has an equal wedge. The ring shows what goes into the rite, not how much. Colour is the part's role.

The steps, drawn

Each drawing shows the kind of act in that step. Details differ from place to place, family to family and practitioner to practitioner.

Step 1: Gather Sitters meet and sit in a circle.
Step 2: Light The lights are lowered and a hymn or prayer is said.
Step 3: Speak The medium is said to make contact and name a presence.
Step 4: Read Messages are given to individual sitters.
Step 5: Close The medium comes back to ordinary state and the sitting is closed with thanks.

The sitting

Sitters sit around a table or in a circle. The medium may go into trance, speak for a spirit guide, or give messages to individuals. The earliest sittings had raps and table movement. Many churches of Spiritualism now offer demonstrations of mediumship in a service.

Exposure and fraud

Many mediums have been exposed as frauds, including the Fox sisters, one of whom confessed. Houdini campaigned against fraudulent mediums. Skeptics hold the results are cold reading, suggestion and trickery, and believers hold some mediums to be genuine.

Grief

Researchers note that seances meet a need to hold on to the dead. Bereaved sitters are vulnerable to exploitation and should be careful about paying large sums.

What it is for

Contacting the dead
Comfort in grief

Who does it

Mediums and the possessed

Related entries

SéanceThe sitting.

Fox sistersThe founders.

Also part of it, and being written: Spiritualism (The movement.).

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Sources and further reading

Séance on Wikipedia

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryJaadu desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Closed or sacred detail is left out. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Spiritualist seance