Definitions Within Spiritualism.

A list of common words or phrases within Spiritualism.

SPIRITUALISM: The Science, Philosophy and Religion based upon the principle of continuous life demonstrated through mediumship. Spiritualism embraces the concept of individual responsibility and the belief that the door to reformation is never closed.   
 
*a science because it investigates, analyzes, and classifies facts and manifestations of Spirit;
 
*a philosophy because it studies the laws of nature both on the seen and unseen side of life and bases its conclusions upon present, observed facts;
 
*a religion because it strives to understand and comply with the physical, mental, and spiritual laws of nature, which are the laws of God.          
 
SPIRITUALIST: One who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the continuity of life and in individual responsibility. Some, but not all, Spiritualists are Mediums and/or Healers. Spiritualists endeavor to find the truth in all things and to live their lives in accordance therewith.
 
SPIRITUAL READING: In Spiritualism, a reading occurs when a medium receives, processes and delivers messages from the spirit plane.
 
CONTINUITY OF LIFE: The idea that everyone’s unique identity lives eternally.
 
HEALER: One who acts as a channel to convey God’s healing energies to others, whether for physical, emotional, mental or Spiritual Healing. This occurs through the "laying on of hands" or through absentee healing.
 
INFINITE INTELLIGENCE: A name for the creative intelligence that is present everywhere and in everything. Note that Spiritualism is essentially monotheistic, thus when writing about its beliefs Infinite Intelligence should be capitalized in the same way Holy Spirit is.
 
MEDIUM: One with proven capabilities of communicating with Spirit through various forms of phenomena and who acts as a channel for information between the Spirit and Earth Planes.
 
NATURAL LAW: A law or body of laws that derives from nature and is believed to be binding upon human actions apart from or in conjunction with laws established by human authority.
 
PHENOMENA: A wide variety of Spirit communications and manifestations including clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, healing, levitation, materialization, automatic writing/drawing/painting, trance and table tipping. Spirit communication and manifestations are  used to demonstrate the continuity of life.