spiritualist

A spiritualist is a person who believes in spiritualism, a movement and worldview that holds that spirits of the dead can communicate with the living and that the soul survives bodily death. Spiritualists emphasize personal experience, ethical improvement, and ongoing interaction with spiritual realms. The term can refer to adherents of spiritualist churches, groups, or communities, but beliefs and practices vary widely.

Practices commonly associated with spiritualism include mediumship, in which a person acts as a conduit for messages from spirits; séances or other gatherings intended to demonstrate phenomena; automatic writing or trance speaking; and, in some cases, healing or psychical research. Many adherents attend organized spiritualist churches or meetings, while others pursue private study or communication with mediums.

Origins of modern spiritualism trace to 19th-century North America, beginning with sensational reports of spirit communication by the Fox sisters in the 1840s and spreading to Britain and elsewhere. The movement developed networks of churches, journals, and associations, such as spiritualist unions in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable figures associated with spiritualism include scientists and writers who supported investigations into mediumship, such as Sir Oliver Lodge and William Crookes, alongside supporters who promoted its ethical and religious dimensions; the Society for Psychical Research in Britain helped examine such phenomena.

Spiritualism has faced criticism from theologians and scientists, including investigations that questioned the authenticity of certain mediums and debates over the reliability of reported phenomena. In contemporary times, the movement persists in local churches, online communities, and some New Age contexts, retaining an interest in communication with the dead and in beliefs about consciousness and the afterlife.