Rainbow Bridge: Animal Afterlife & Spiritualism

A topic that I regularly write about is how Spiritualism was born and shaped in an era of Reform, and how most early Spiritualists were committed to various Reform movements such as Abolitionism, Women's Suffrage, and the Temperance movement. One movement that I have not seen covered that well however is the Spiritualist commitment to both Vegetarianism and Animal Rights. 

In the late 1800s we begin to see an organized movement of individuals that publicly advocate for the welfare of animals, as well as the promotion of a vegetarian lifestyle. Although these two movements often had mutual members, many early vegetarians were more often motivated from a perspective of health and hygiene rather than specifically animal welfare.

One of the roots of these movements can be traced to the popularity of the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish mystic who's writings were a heavy influence on early Spiritualists. 

Emanuel Swedenborg's writings (as well as his own lifestyle) advocated a vegetarian lifestyle as a more pure and spiritual way of life, interpreting the bible that human beings were created to eat a plant based diet in the Garden of Eden, and that eating meat was a result of a fallen spiritual nature and resulted in unnatural cruelty. Thus by eating a plant based diet, we were actually returning to our original pure state of being, and becoming closer to God. 

These spiritual ideals influenced not only early Spiritualists, but also became the basis for the foundation of the Bible Christian Church founded by William Cowherd. William Cowherd formed his Church on the teachings of Swedenborg, and encouraged his followers to follow a vegetarian lifestyle, his teachings in both England and the United States increased awareness of Vegetarianism, and eventually lead to the founding of the Vegetarian Society. 

With regards to Animal Rights, we also see around this time period the organization of several other groups dedicated to the welfare of animals such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in 1886, The National Anti-Vivisection Society in 1875, and American Anti-Vivisection Society in 1883. 

During this time period, the combination of Vegetarianism, Animal Welfare Groups, and alternative Spiritual traditions such as Spiritualism and the teachings of Swedenborg began to slowly shift the public view of animals as things to animals as persons. 

In 1896 a Veterinarian (and Vegetarian) in New York City named Dr. Samuel Johnson was so moved by a grieving client whose dog had died, that he offered his apple orchard as a place of burial, because animal burials were not permitted within New York City. This ban extended to both public cemeteries, as well as religious cemeteries; most religions did not recognize animals as having a soul and it was not considered proper to give them a burial in a religious cemetery.

News of his act of kindness spread and soon Dr. Johnson was receiving hundreds of letters from grieving pet owners who wanted a place they could bury their animal friends. Eventually this land would become known as Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, the oldest and largest pet cemetery in the United States. The history of this is documented in Dr. Johnson's Apple Orchard: The Story of America's First Pet Cemetery by Edward C. Martin Jr. 

In 1901 Daniel Hull published a short work called the Manual of Magnetic Healing, which was a primer on how to practice Spiritualist Healing. This work included a short appendix titled Vegetarianism. He states that he included this to his work because "every healer will be more healthful, and therefore more successful for being a Vegetarian."

Although this work primarily discusses the health benefits of the vegetarian lifestyle, Daniel Hull explains that in his view, killing animals is immoral, and offers some thoughts on what this means to Spiritualists:

"There is a question among Spiritualists, whether animals live after the demise of their bodies. I will not discuss it here. In either case I could not afford to destroy their present lives for my selfish gratification. Their present lives, for aught I know, are worth as much to them as mine is to me."

The subject of animals in the afterlife would be fully elaborated on decades later in an amazing work titled When Your Animal Dies, by Sylvia Barbanell. 

The book was intended as a kind of self-help book for those grieving the loss of their pets, which may have been one of the first, if not the first, book on this subject. Aside from being a work of consolation, the book is really a masterpiece of spiritualist thought. The book contains hundreds of testimonies and anecdotes that testify that animals can demonstrate spirit communication and have an existence in the spirit world.

Although the book's intention is not explicitly philosophical, Sylvia Barbanell does give passing remarks on how animals exist in the afterlife, and she provides various pieces of philosophy from spiritualist authors as well as wisdom from spirit guides. 

The conclusions she reaches may not be what most spiritualists today would come to, given that this book was really the first of it's kind and written in 1940 it's her discussion of this topic is impressive.

She raises two points: one, that non-human animals, particularly non-domesticated animals, don't have individual souls, but rather have a united spirit and exist as a collection. The second point, is that animals develop a kind of individual identify because of their relationship with humans, and this allows certain animals to communicate in the afterlife. 

Personally, I find the first point fairly weak, and given that massive amount of evidence she provides on spirit communication from animals, both domesticated, and non domesticated, I almost wonder if she was not fully convinced of these arguements either. The concept of animals existing as persons is still a radical concept to many, and in the 1940s it may have been even more difficult to put into words. 

Her second point, I think does have some merit to it, and is an excellent example of the beautiful teachings of Spiritualism. That our loving connections to our friends and loved ones, be they animal or human, are not severed by death, and that Love can connect us across the Etheric and allow us to communicate. And this is demonstrated time after time, and story after story in her book.

Today there is virtually no question on whether or not animals participate as individuals in the afterlife among Spiritualists: the afterlife of animals is considered an established fact "scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism." 

Most Spiritualist have adopted the relatively modern tradition of the "Rainbow Bridge" as an accepted part of the Spiritualist tradition, which fits quite well with the Spiritualist belief in the afterlife as a Summer-Land. 

That there is a meadow "this side of Heaven" where animals go to rest in an eternal summer, free of pains and suffering, and can wait for their friends to cross over into Spirit, and see each other once more. 

Flowers from the Dead: The Spiritualist Flower Service

The importance of flowers in Spiritualism cannot be underestimated. Spiritualist Churches are often filled with flowers and floral imagery, and in many cases will be named after flowers. The Sunflower is a particular favorite and is one of the most popular symbols of Spiritualism. 

Flowers also have a special religious place among Spiritualists. In terms of Spiritualist doctrines the Spirit-World is often described as the "Summerland:" an eternal land of meadows and peace, an endless Summer. As Cora L.V. Scott poetically described, "the gardens of God."

The ritual use of flowers among Spiritualists can be traced to the Victorian tradition of the Language of Flowers. In the Victorian Era, when public and private expression was extremely strict, one could express a range of meanings encoded in a bouquet of flowers. One of the most popular uses for this was in courtship where one could express romantic intentions through flowers given as a gift, but it was also used to express a wide range of meanings and emotions: friendship, gratitude, faith, consolation, etc.

The early centers of Spiritualism were the homes of Spiritualists where seances took place in parlors around a family tea table, and flowers were an essential part of the Victorian home.  Spiritualism, and this tradition of meaningful floral arrangements began to overlap in these early Home Circles, and the presence of flowers began to be understood within a spiritual context. 

Spirits that were present during a séance would often use this flower language as a method of communication, if this was done through mental mediumship the Medium would clairvoyantly be shown flowers used to express specific meanings, this is still a very prevalent method of mediumistic communication used by Spiritualists today. More literally, in physical seances there are accounts of Spirits materializing flowers to the sitters present.

The presence of flowers actually grew to be considered a key component of Spiritualist meetings and seances. It became to be understood that their presence during a séance would give off positive vibrations that could assist in the production of spiritual phenomena and better assist the developing Mediums. Various Spiritualist writers began to offer their thoughts and observations over what sorts of flowers would best assist different kinds of mediumistic phenomena. 

As Spiritualist Churches began to develop, new forms of religious rituals were created that included the use of flowers. As I discussed in another blog, the ritual of Spiritualist Baptism was eventually developed and flowers became the most important aspect of this ritual: one would be sprinkled with flower petals, or in some cases crowned with flowers. 

What eventually would come to be known as a "Flower Service" is a natural outgrowth of these religious practices that originated in the early Home Circles of Spiritualists. 

During a Spiritualist Flower Service, if an individual wanted to receive a "Flower Message" from a Spirit through a Medium, they would be expected to bring a flower or bouquet of flowers to the service. The flowers would be placed on the altar or platform; in most cases it was unknown to the Mediums serving who brought which flowers, and individuals would sometimes add a ribbon or piece of paper to the flowers they brought so that they would know which message was meant for them. 

After prayers and hymns, the Medium will take the flowers in hand and deliver a message while holding them. A common misunderstanding is that the flowers themselves are read symbolically, this is not the case, rather, the vibrations from the flowers are supposed to assist the Medium in giving a message from the Spirits reaching out to the individual who brought them to the service. 

This method of Mediumship is generally known as psychometry, where the Spirits communicate clairvoyantly generated by the Medium's sense of touch while holding an object, in this case, flowers. 

An excellent example of a Flower Service was recorded by George F. Goerner, in his work A Record of Psychic Experiences. George Goerner was the President of the Los Angeles Society for Advanced Psychical Research. In 1922 he published his work which is a cumulation of his research that he collection while attending various seances and Spiritualist Churches services in California mostly during the 1920s. 

He recorded a Flower Service that took place at Peoples Spiritualist Church, Los Angeles California during the evening of November 13th 1921.

On the above date I again purchased four roses to take to the church, hoping to have another flower message from mother. I wrapped a piece of writing paper around the stems, on which I had written, "a rose for mother: one for sister Clara; one for sister Annie, and one for Minnie, from George." 

Mrs. Miller delivered the flower messages, as usual. She took up my cluster of roses and read the message as follows.

"These beautiful roses bring me the influence of a dear sweet mother. She comes so happy and is pleased to know that you thought to bring them. There are four who come and you brought a rose for mother, one for sister Clara, and one for each of the other two - I do not catch the names clearly but your mother says, we are all here to greet you; we saw you wrap them up and we know who they are for. You don't have to wait until tomorrow, my son. We can tell you know. We are all here." 

Mrs. Miller continued: "Your mother says, don't worry about anything, George. I am always with you and things are not going to remain so uncertain much longer. Be patient a little while and you will have much to be thankful for. We are here tonight."

After the conclusion of his account of attending the Flower Service he added some of his thoughts regarding the mediumship he observed from the mediums:

There were probably as many as 30 messages given out by the two mediums - Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Inez Wagner. While a few incidents of unconscious mind-reading seen apparent here and there, the greater part of the messages is so intimately related to events known only to one or two persons on earth and family members on the spirit side, that it would be out of the question to attempt to account for more than one-forth of the results by telepathy. 

About a hundred years later, Flower Services continue to be held among Spiritualists, who still even today, in moments of communion with the Spirit-World, incorporate flowers to assist them in raising spiritual vibrations, bringing to mind the verse by Cora L.V. Scott, "the spring-time, with its bursting buds and flowers, gives forth, in its wonderous way, the utterance of prayer."