spiritismn.
/ˈspɪrᵻtɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈspɪrᵻˌtɪz(ə)m/ Belief in the existence and influence of incorporeal spirits and the possibility of communicating with them, esp. with the spirits of the dead; a system of doctrines or practices founded on this belief; spec. that established and codified by the French writer and educator known as Allan Kardec (1804–69) in the mid 19th cent. Cf. spiritualism n. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > spiritualism > [noun]
ghostism1850
spiritualism1851
spiritism1856
psychomancy1865
metapsychics1905
metapsychism1922
1856 Spiritual Herald July 203 Witchcraft was an unfriendly form of spiritism, and calculated to produce fear.
1864 Reader 29 Oct. 542/1 Spiritism (spirit-rapping, as commonly understood).
1880 W. D. Howells Undiscovered Country iv. 69 In the development of the phenomena which now agitate the world, mesmerism came first, and spiritism came second.
1930 Jrnl. Relig. 10 37 We may, for instance, reject a great part of Spiritualism, and accept Spiritism, the theory of spirit existences and their intervention in human affairs.
1980 Washington Post (Nexis) 25 Mar. c1 Blackstone won't say that he doesn't believe in parapsychology or spiritism.
2012 Washington Post (Nexis) 25 Feb. b2 When Spiritism first gained a measure of popularity in the United States in the late 1960s, it was largely because of Brazilian immigrants.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1856