Baroness Adelma Vay or von Vay, also Vay de Vaya (born Countess Adelaide von

Wurmbrand-Stuppach The House of Wurmbrand-Stuppach is an old noble family of Austria. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Counts of Wurmbrand-Stuppach gained notability in wars against the Turks in the Balkans. The Counts of Wurmbrand-Stuppach were highly decora ...

; October 21, 1840 – May 24, 1925), was a

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

and pioneer of

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

in Slovenia and Hungary.

Life and work

Vay was the elder daughter of Count Ernst von Wurmbrand-Stuppach and his wife, Countess Rosa Teleki von Szék (later wife of Friedrich, Prince of

Solms-Baruth Solms-Baruth was a Lower Lusatian state country, from 16th century until 1945. History The House of Solms had its origins at Solms, Hesse, and ruled several of the many minor states of the Holy Roman Empire. These lost their independence in the G ...

). She was born at Tarnopol, Galicia, today

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

, Ukraine, where her father Count Ernst von Wurmbrand-Stuppach was serving as first lieutenant in the local

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

. In her early youth, she lived on the family estate near Schwarzau, Lower Austria. Her father died in 1846; when her mother married again in 1851, she left Austria and moved with her to Prussia for 10 years.Adelma von Vay: ''Duh, sila, snov'' (Jan Ciglenečki: Štajerska Pitija, page 9) On March 12, 1860, she married baron Ödön (Edmond, Eugen or Otto) Vay de Vaya, a Hungarian

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

. They enjoyed 60 years of marriage, but without having children. The couple lived at first at

Tiszalök Tiszalök is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and, in 2015, had a population of 5,395. Notable people * Miklós Kocsis, sport shooter * Countess A ...

for some years, near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border, and later moved to

Slovenske Konjice Slovenske Konjice ( or ; german: Gonobitz, in older sources also ''Gannobitz'') is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. History and town ...

(Gonobitz), where they bought a mansion at Prevrat, still known as "Baronvaj" ("Baron Vay's").Adelma von Vay: Duh, sila, snov (Jan Ciglenečki: ''Štajerska Pitija'', page 10) Ödön was a retired senior officer of the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

army. On August 9, 1877, the Militar-Veteranen-Verein in Gonobitz (Association of Army Veterans in Gonobitz) was founded, primarily for ex-soldiers regardless of nationality. The association's first president was Hugo Veriand von

Windisch-Graetz The House of Windisch-Graetz, also spelled Windisch-Grätz, is an Austrian-Slovenian aristocratic family, descending from Windischgraz in Lower Styria (present-day Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia). The noble dynasty serving the House of Habsburg achieve ...

, and his deputy was Vay de Vaya.Ožinger Anton, Pajk Ivan: ''Konjiško ob 850-letnici pražupnije'' The couple were both members of the local

Red Cross Society The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world's largest group of non-governmental organizations working on humanitarian aid, is composed of the following bodies: *The ''International Committee of the Red Cross'' (ICRC), a comm ...

committee, which in 1897 built a hospital named the Christiane-Lazarett after Christiane Habsburg, president of the Austro-Hungarian Red Cross Society.Adelma von Vay: ''Duh, sila, snov'' (Jan Ciglenečki: Štajerska Pitija, page 18) Baron Vay de Vaya decided in 1908 to have another building constructed (at his own cost) specifically for infectious disease patients. The hospital continued in operation until the beginning of World War II. Adelma was well known as a great humanitarian, and never charged for her medical advice and assistance. Adelma Vay de Vaya grave

On March 1, 1921, Ödön died at

Mali Lošinj Mali Lošinj ( it, Lussinpiccolo, vec, Lusinpicolo) is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, on the island of Lošinj, in western Croatia. At the time of the 2011 census, there were 8,116 inhabitants, of whom 86% were Croats. The favourabl ...

, where the couple had a summer villa. After his death, the widowed Adelma continued to live in the mansion, surrounded by servants. She died on May 24, 1925 at her home. Although she was a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, Franc Hrastelj, the priest of the Catholic parish, approved her burial in the churchyard of St. Anna's in

Spiritualism

Adelma had the reputation of possessing mystical powers, probably inherited from her mother. She was reputed to have prophetic gifts and to be

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

. She wrote, spoke and drew in an apparent trance-like state. She was a

homeopath Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

and attempted to cure people using

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

. In 1873, she and her husband founded the Verein spiriter Forscher (Hungarian Spiritualist Association), of which they became the first presidents. In ''An Encyclopaedia of Occultism'' (1920) by

Lewis Spence James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (25 November 1874 – 3 March 1955) was a Scottish journalist, poet, author, folklorist and occult scholar. Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and vice- ...

(1874–1955), she was noted as the initiator of spiritualism in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Adelma von Vay once described her book ''Spirit, Power and Matter'' as an example of pure

Christian Spiritualism Spiritualism is a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least two fundamental substances, matter and spirit. This very broad metaphysical distinction is further developed into many and various forms by the inclusion of details about ...

. The newly formed association was not thought of as a dogmatic Spiritualistic sect but was anchored in a framework of Christian religion, stated by its association's statutes.Adelma von Vay: ''Duh, sila, snov'' (Jan Ciglenečki: Štajerska Pitija, page 13)

Publications

Vay was author of many books, written in German and translated into English: * ''Geist-Kraft-Stoff'' (Spirit, Power, and Matter) (1869), Spirit, Power, and Matter * ''Studien über die Geisterwelt'' (Studies on the Spirit World), (1874) * ''From My Life'' (1900) * ''Pictures from the Beyond'' (1905) * ''Die Sphären zwischen der Erde und Sonne'' (The Spheres between the Earth and the Sun)

Notes

Sources

* Boldin Aleksandra, Ciglenečki Jan: ''Adelma von Vay, The Mysterious Baroness from Konjice, 2012''. Slovenske Konjice * Židov, Nena, nd: ''An overview of the history of homeopathy in Slovenia in the 19th century'' in: ''Medizin, Gesellschaft und Geschichte'' 23 (2004), pp. 181–198. * Pataky Sophie, ''Lexikon deutscher Frauen der Feder'' (Berlin, 1898), II, 387, in German * Ožinger Anton, Pajk Ivan, 1996: ''Konjiško ob 850-letnici pražupnije''. Slovenske Konjice , in Slovene * Vay, Adelma von, 1869 transl. 2011: ''Duh, sila, snov''. Ljubljana, KUD Logos , in Slovene

External links

An overwiew of the history of homeopathy in Slovenia in the 19th century

Christentum und Spiritualismus

Adelma Vay's correspondence quest
{{Spiritism and Spiritualism 1840 births 1925 deaths People from Ternopil Hungarian spiritual writers Hungarian homeopaths People from the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice Spiritual mediums