REL-2121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Castor Oil, Femininity, Shakers
Document Summary
Spiritualist mediums found a way around this by invoking the speech and wisdom of male spirits: spirits delivered highly political messages. Mo(cid:448)e a(cid:449)ay fro(cid:373) (cid:862)god the father(cid:863: a duel focus on therapeutic and political utility. Can be previously human or demonic: hakers era of ma(cid:374)ifestatio(cid:374) (cid:894)mother a(cid:374)(cid:374)"s work(cid:895) 1830s-1850s: shakers (mostly women) reported intense visionary experiences, including communication with the deceased, visions of heaven, and interactions with the invisible world: mesmerism. A popular science throughout europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Focus on healing via animal magnetism (an invisible force linking all living beings: the telegraph (1837) The possibility of instant human communication across oceans, via a mysterious invisible force (electricity), opened up the possibility for other fantastic and mysterious forms of communication. For the first time ideas could travel without bodies. Was the most significant piece of industrial technology for spiritualists, but spiritualism was also responding to cultural shifts resulting from trains and industrial production (factories)
