Spiritualism is alive and well NOW. There was a church a few blocks away until the pandemic; now they meet online.
Sounds like there is a medium protectionist racket that doesn’t want any competition, mixed in with a huge dollop of small town (the lowest stakes lead to the largest animosity) politics.
The one gross omission from that article is any mention of what the “Medium test” consisted of and how it was scored. Enquiring minds want to know.
Lily Dale is a hamlet of about 250 people. They have a website, a charming one IMHO: https://www.lilydaleassembly.org/history
The website says they are the world’s largest Spiritualist community with 50 professional registered mediums (almost all female, judging from their list of 33 on the website). I can’t see any basis for this kind of lawsuit: ISTM that a religion can award a title using any criteria that they want.
Spiritualism at Lily Dale is a business, one they are up front about. Is it harmless? Unlike the NYT article in the OP, the article doesn’t insult its readership with apologetics. I suspect that tacking on the trappings of religion as well as making it more difficult for the fortune teller to lift stakes and move to another city puts some mild limits on exploitation. Not that Houdini (or James Randi or me for that matter) would fully approve.
I see that the National Spiritualist Association of Churches reports 144 member congregations, ten state associations and 11 camps, at least in 2002. It is headquartered in Lily Dale.
ETA: I couldn’t find a test for mediums online, but I did find a set of flashcards for American Spiritualism. There are 48 of them: this depth suggests to me that they might be part of the Lily Dale curriculum. American Spiritualism Flashcards | Chegg.com
Wouldn’t it be more in style to meet in the aether?
Not everybody is spiritually advanced, but anybody can access the internet with their phlogiston-powered computer.
Silly me thought the spiritually advanced masters would like to remain a secluded circle unencumbered by the muggles. Now I understand that milking them is more lucrative. Silly me! Thanks for fighting my ignorance!
The Technocracy voted to move the Ether out of the Consensus. It was the last straw and caused the Electrodyne Engineers to leave the Technocracy and join the Traditions as the Sons Of Ether. I remain a member of the College Of Etheric Sciences in good standing.
Theoretically, any human can have their MetaConscious Mind Actualized. It’s why we call you Sleepers.
‘The sleeper has . . . no, needs, a Panera Charged Lemonade!’
I bought tickets to a Spiritualism convention but it was canceled due to unforseen circumstances.
I thought people would be interested in the BBC’s short video about LIly Dale. Apparently, Susan B. Anthony spoke there, and Marie Curie was a spiritualist? The video seems to buy into their beliefs, or at least doesn’t debunk them.
many of the members saw that coming
Apparently the BBC turned into the National Enquirer while we weren’t looking.
Any news from the Beeb as to what Sasquatch is up to this year?
Where on earth do you get that idea? That Shannon Taggart video is about the photographer’s documentary project on the history and practice of spiritualism, and it’s full of historical facts about the influential effects of spiritualist beliefs.
The fact that the artist’s work is partly motivated by her own interest in exploring spiritualism as a belief system doesn’t mean that the BBC as an institution is trying to report irrational fabrications as reality, in the manner of National Enquirer sensationalist “news stories” on Sasquatch.
I mean, unless you feel that any media organization covering any religious/spiritual movement of any kind, unless they explicitly call it a pack of lies devoid of scientific evidentiary support, puts them on the same footing as the National Enquirer.
A fork bent in my hand just the other day. The meatball I was eating was quite heavy, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it.
That brings up a good point: Uri Geller could bend spoons, but notice he never successfully bent a spork.
Well, I’ve always identified with Bender, from Futurama.
That’s a tine-y detail.
And Mr. Spork, from Vulcan.
… and Mr. Sheffield.
( He was on a break )