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.
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.
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