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	''The First Movements of the Spirit'' is an article written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] published in [[Light]] on 21 february 1925.		''The First Movements of the Spirit'' is an article written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] published in [[Light]] on 21 february 1925.

			The article argues that the Shaker communities of the United States experienced a large-scale wave of spirit phenomena beginning in 1837, including possession, noises, and communication with supposed Indian spirits, and presents this as a major precursor to the better-known Rochester knockings of 1848. It also emphasizes that the Shakers interpreted these events seriously and systematically, seeing them first as proof of spiritual reality, then as instruction about the afterlife, and finally as part of a wider coming movement that would soon spread through the world.

	This article was included in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[The History of Spiritualism#Chapter II : Edward Irving: The Shakers\|The History of Spiritualism]] published in june 1926.		This article was included in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[The History of Spiritualism#Chapter II : Edward Irving: The Shakers\|The History of Spiritualism]] published in june 1926.

TCDE-Team: Created page with "''The First Movements of the Spirit'' is an article written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in Light on 21 february 1925. This article was included in Arthur Conan Doyle's The History of Spiritualism published in june 1926. == The First Movements of the Spirit == [[Light (21 february 1925, p. 86)]]..."

2026-04-10T11:35:09Z

Created page with "''The First Movements of the Spirit'' is an article written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in Light on 21 february 1925. This article was included in Arthur Conan Doyle's The History of Spiritualism published in june 1926. == The First Movements of the Spirit == thumb|250px|right|[[Light (21 february 1925, p. 86)]]..."

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''The First Movements of the Spirit'' is an article written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] published in [[Light]] on 21 february 1925.

This article was included in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s [[The History of Spiritualism#Chapter II : Edward Irving: The Shakers|The History of Spiritualism]] published in june 1926.

== The First Movements of the Spirit ==
[[File:light-1925-02-21-p86-the-first-movements-of-the-spirits.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Light]] (21 february 1925, p. 86)]]
[[File:light-1925-02-21-p87-the-first-movements-of-the-spirits.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Light]] (21 february 1925, p. 87)]]

In the earlier half of the 19th century there were a number of sporadic outbreaks of inexplicable phenomena leading up to the episode of March 31st, 1848, which Spiritualists look upon as the first instance of organised and intelligent communication with the other world. That which is best attested and was on the largest scale was that among the Shaker community in the United States, of which some account should be given.

These good people seem to have had affiliations on the one side with the Quakers, and on the other with the refugees from the Cevennes, who came to England to escape the persecution of Louis XIV. Even in England their harmless lives did not screen them from the persecution of the bigots, and they were forced to emigrate to America about the time of the War of Independence. There they founded settlements in various parts, lived simple, cleanly lives upon Communistic principles, with sobriety and chastity as their watchword. It is not surprising that as the psychic cloud of other-world power slowly settled upon the earth it should have found its first response from such altruistic communities. In 1837 there were sixty such bodies in existence, and all of them responded in various degrees to the new power. They kept their experiences very strictly to themselves at the time, for as their elders subsequently explained, they would certainly have been all consigned to Bedlam had they told what had actually occurred. Two books, however, "Holy Wisdom" and "The Sacred Roll," appeared afterwards which arose from their experiences.

The phenomena seem to have begun with the usual warning noises, and to have been followed by the obsession from time to time of nearly all the community. Everyone, man and woman, proved to be open to spirit possession. The invaders only came, however, after asking permission, and at such intervals as did not interfere with the work of the community. The chief visitants were Red Indians who came collectively as a tribe. "One or two elders might be in the room below and there would be a knock at the door and the Indians would ask whether they might come in. Permission being given, a whole tribe of Indian spirits would troop into the house, and in a few minutes you would hear 'Whoop !' here and 'Whoop!' there all over the house." The whoops emanated, of course, from the vocal organs of the Shakers themselves, but while under the Indian control they would talk Indian among themselves, dance Indian dances and in all ways show that they were really possessed by the redskin spirits.

One may well ask why should these North American aborigines play so large a part not only in the inception but in the continuance of this movement. There are few physical mediums in this country as well as in America who have not a Red Indian guide, whose photograph has not infrequently been obtained by psychic means, still retaining his scalp-locks and his robes. It is one of the many mysteries which we have still to solve. We can only say for certain, from our own experience, that such spirits are powerful in producing physical phenomena, but that they never present the higher teaching which comes to us either from European or from Oriental spirits. The physical phenomena are still, however, of very great importance as calling the attention of sceptics to the matter, and therefore the part assigned to the Indians is a very vital one. Men of the rude open-air type seem in spirit life to be especially associated with the crude manifestations of spirit activity, and it has been repeatedly asserted, though it is hard to say how it could he proved. that their chief organiser was an adventurer who in life was known as Henry Morgan and died as Governor of Jamaica in the time of Charles II. Such unproved assertions are, it must be admitted.

of no value in our present state of knowledge, but they may be put on record, as further information may in time shed some new light upon them. John King, which is the spirit name of the alleged Henry Morgan, is a very real being, and there are tew Spiritualists of experience who have not seen his heavily-bearded face and heard his masterful voice. As to the Indians who are his colleagues or his subordinates, one can but hazard the conjecture that they are children of Nature who are nearer perhaps the primitive secrets than other more complex races. It may be that their special work is of the nature of an expiation and atonement — an explanation which the author has heard from their lips.

These remarks may well seem a digression from the actual experience of the Shakers, but the difficulties raised in the mind of the inquirer arise largely from the number of new facts without any order or explanation which he is forced to encounter. His mind has no possible pigeon-hole into which they can be fitted. Therefore, the author will endeavour in these essays to provide so far as possible from his own experience, or from that of those upon whom he can rely, such sidelights as may make the matter more intelligible, and give at least a hint of those laws which lie behind, and are as binding upon spirits as upon ourselves. Above all, the inquirer must cast away for ever the idea that spirits are necessarily wise or powerful entities. They have their individuality and their limitations, even as we have, and these limitations become the more marked when they have to manifest themselves through so foreign a substance as matter.

The Shakers had among them a man of outstanding intelligence named F. W. Evans, who gave a very clear and entertaining account of all this matter which may be sought by the curious in the "New York Daily Graphic" of November 24th, 1874, and has been largely copied into Colonel Olcott's work, "People from the Other World." This, like so many other psychic works, is of very great importance, and yet, on account of the indifference of a bemused public, has been allowed to become a rare work. It will be the author's privilege to convey some of the precious information in this and other such works to the public in the course of these essays upon the outstanding events in the long fight between spiritual truth and that form and dogma which has become mechanical and therefore dead.

Mr. Evans and his associates after the first disturbance, physical and mental, caused by this spirit irruption, settled down to study what it really meant. They came to the conclusion that the matter could be divided into three phases. The first phase was the actual proving to the observer that the thing was real. The second phase was one of instruction, as even the humblest spirit can bring information as to his own experience of after-death conditions. The third phase was called the missionary phase and was the practical application. The Shakers came to the unexpected conclusion that the Indians were there not to teach but to be taught. They proselytised them, therefore, exactly as they would have done in life. A similar experience has occurred since then in very many Spiritualistic circles, where humble and lowly spirits have come to be taught that which they should have learned. in this world had true teachers been available. One may well ask why the higher spirits over there do not supply this want. The answer given to the author upon one notable occasion was, "These people are very much nearer to you than to us. You can reach them where we fail."

It is clear from this that the good Shakers were never in touch with the higher guides —possibly they did not need guidance — and that their visitors were on a low plane. For seven years these visitations continued. When the spirits left they informed their hosts that they were going but that presently they would return, and that when they did so they would pervade the world and enter the palace as well as the cottage. It was just four years later that the Rochester knockings broke out. When they did so, Elder Evans and another Shaker visited Rochester and saw the Fox sisters. Their arrival was greeted with great enthusiasm from the unseen forces, who proclaimed that this was indeed the work which had been foretold.

One remark of Elder Evans is worth transcribing. When asked, "Don't you think your experience is much the same as that of monks and nuns in the Middle Ages?" he did not answer, "Ours were angelic but these others were diabolical," as would have been said had the situation been reversed, but he replied with fine candour and breadth of mind, "Certainly. That is the proper explanation of them through all the ages. The visions of Saint Theresa were Spiritualistic vision's just such as we have frequently had vouchsafed to the members of our Society." When further asked whether magic and necromancy did not belong to the same category, he answered, "Yes. That is when Spiritualism is used for selfish ends." It is clear that there were men living nearly a century ago who were capable of instructing our wise men of to-day.

That very remarkable woman, Mrs. Hardinge Britten, has recorded in her "Modern American Spiritualism" how she came in close contact with the Shaker community and was shown by them the records, taken at the time, of their spiritual visitation. In them it was stated that the new era was to be inaugurated by an extraordinary discovery of material as well as of spiritual wealth. This is a most remarkable prophecy, as it is a matter of history that the goldfields of California were discovered within a very short time of the psychic outburst. A Swedenborg, with his own doctrine of correspondences, might perhaps contend that the one was complementary to the other.

This episode of the Shaker manifestations is a very distinct link between the Swedenborg pioneer work and the period of Davis and the Fox sisters.

'''∴''' The third of [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s articles in this series will commence next week. It is entitled "[[The Prophet of the New Revelation]]," and deals with the life of Andrew Jackson Davis.

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The First Movements of the Spirit - Revision history

TCDE-Team at 11:39, 10 April 2026