Spiritism Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Riva ...

, perispirit is the

subtle body A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated We ...

that is used by the spirit to connect with the

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

s created by the brain. The term is found among the extensive

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, compound word, or multi-wor ...

originally devised by

Allan Kardec Allan Kardec () is the pen name of the French educator, translator, and author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869). He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the founder of S ...

in his books about

. Its first use was in a commentary (by Kardec) to the answer given by the spirits to the 93rd question of ''

The Spirits Book ''The Spirits' Book'' (''Le Livre des Esprits'' in French) is part of the Spiritist Codification, and is regarded as one of the five fundamental works on Spiritism. It was published by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, und ...

'': :''Is the spirit, properly so called, without a covering, or is it, as some declare, surrounded by a substance of some kind?'' :"The spirit is enveloped in a substance which would appear to you as mere vapor, but which, nevertheless, appears very gross to us, thought it is sufficiently vaporous to allow the spirit to float in the atmosphere, and to transport himself through space at pleasure." ::As the germ of a fruit is surrounded by the perisperm so the spirit, properly so called, is surrounded by an envelope which, by analogy, may be designated as the perispirit. Kardec was compelled to develop further the notion, especially by given "scientific" fundamentation to his theory. He studied the properties of what was then called "fluids" (electricity, magnetism, heat) and broadened the research towards those he termed "psychic" or "spiritual fluids". Both terms, especially the previous have stuck and are still used (or abused) up to now.

Properties

In Kardec's later conception, found in ''

The Book on Mediums ''The Book on Mediums'' or ''Mediums and Evokers' Handbook'' (a.k.a. ''The Mediums' Book'' —''Le Livre des Médiums'', in French), is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the philosoph ...

'', he described the ''perispirit'' (then assumed as "technical term") in terms of a "fluidic body" with the following properties: * It is made of the "Universal Cosmic Fluid", which in different densities and states, is the source of all matter; * It enclosed the spirit proper; * It gave the spirit an appearance drawn from his previous life and his current state, serving as a shape by which spirits saw each other; * It sends forth "fluidic" emanations that can affect those around; * Being "subtle" and semi-material, it was able to act as a bond between the physical body (material) and the spirit (immaterial); * It allowed the spirit to act over matter other than that of its body, to some extent; * It is constantly under change, as the spirit progresses and may eventually be harmed, even destroyed. * It won't be necessary any more when all spirits attain perfection.

Importance for mediumship

The perispirit plays a key role in the phenomenon of

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...

, which actually involves the interaction of the perispirit of the medium and that of a disembodied spirit. When invited to our plane of existence by a medium, "spirits who inhabit worlds of higher degree than ours ... are obliged to clothe themselves with" a garment composed of perispirit. "The most elevated spirits, when they come to visit us, assume a terrestrial perispirit, which they retain during their stay among us". "According to Kardec, it is through the perispirit that disincarnate spirits ... can move objects." (Thus, the perispirit is responsible for

poltergeist In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descr ...

manifestations.)

New-Age conception

Due to

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in t ...

, some variations of spiritism accept the ''perispirit'' as an actual "body" possessing power centres, defined more or less in the same way that

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

and

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

define the

Chakra Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...

s, thus making the concept of perispirit similar to that of an astral body, a concept that was unknown to Kardec. According to this orientalizing view, the perispirit had the function of modelling the physical body ("soma" n Greek; "deha" in Sanskrit after the design determined by the

karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...

, with each chakra linking itself to a

gland In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

and to the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

. This perispirit would use the chakras to command the body and to receive sensorial impressions from it.

Garment of soul in Gnosticism

Mandaic Mandaic may refer to: * Mandaic language * Mandaic alphabet ** Mandaic (Unicode block) Mandaic is a Unicode block containing characters of the Mandaic script used for writing the historic Eastern Aramaic, also called Classical Mandaic, and the m ...

soteriology, the soul of the dead, upon entering the House of Life, "receives a garment and a wreath." (Here, the "garment" = perispirit; and the "wreath" = halo.) The "metaphor of soul as garment"Alexandar Mihailovics : ''Corporeal Words : Mikhail Bakhtin's Theology of Discourse''. Northwestern University Press, 1997. p. 36
/ref> is a commonplace in Russian mysticism.

Notes

References

*Allan Kardec (translated by

Anna Blackwell Anna Blackwell (pseudonym, Fidelitas; 21 June 1816 – 4 January 1900) was a British writer, journalist, and translator who focused on spiritual and social issues. She had a long and successful career as Parisian correspondent of leading colonial ...

): ''The Spirits' Book''. *Carlos S. Alvarado : "Human Radiations". ''

Journal of the Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

''. Vol. 70.3; No. 884. http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/personalitystudies/publicationslinks/alvarado-human-radiations-jspr-2006.pdf {{Spiritism and Spiritualism Spiritism Vitalism