Spiritist centre

A Spiritist Centre, also called Spiritist Society or Spiritist House, is the basic unit of organisation of Spiritism, which is a doctrinally and distinct form of Spiritualism.

In legal terms, Spiritist centres are ordinary non-profit associations, whose members are in charge of providing funds to run the centre itself and the various charity activities kept by it. Each centre is run by a president or one or more directors elected for a term. Spiritist centres differ from Spiritualist churches in that they are not formally organized as ecclesiastical bodies.

In addition to the legal and corporeal aspects of its existence, a Spiritist Centre is also believed by its members to have an informal and incorporeal level of existence in the spirit world which comprises its patron and a series of protector spirits (which may be shared by other centres in the world).

There are many types of Spiritist organisations, depending on their goals, formal organisation, size, etc.

Spiritist Centres are complex to define because they are not, in the strictest sense, ordinary religious entities. The activities carried on by a spiritist centres are of many types:

Spiritist centre may be founded by anyone well-versed in Spiritist doctrine.

Doctrinal classes have a twofold goal: 1) to share the knowledge available in the books and brought by the founders 2) to identify potential mediums and workers.

Most Spiritist centres conduct the following courses:

The first three courses are almost universal.

The only form of proselytism found in Spiritism is the disclosure of the doctrine (or aspects of it) to the general public. Divulgation of doctrine is carried on in many ways:

Spiritists understand the term Spiritual assistance very literally, meaning "assistance to the spirit" of either a living person or a deceased one.

Spiritual assistance oferred at Spiritist centres includes disobsession, healing, and blessing (directed to the followers and occasional visitors) as well as medium meetings in which several types of spiritual assistance is directed to spirits of deceased people.

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