1804 - 1869
Allan Kardec was a pseudonym
of Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail (October 3, 1804 - March 31, 1869),
compiler or codifier of the Spiritism.
Rivail was born in Lyon, France, in 1804. A disciple and collaborator
of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, he spoke several languages and taught
mathematics, astronomy, physiology, French, physics, chemistry and
comparative anatomy. He was already in his early fifties when he became
interested in the wildly popular phenomenon of spirit-tapping. At
the time, strange phenomena attributed to the action of spirits were
reported in many different places, most notably in the U.S. and France,
attracting the attention of high society. The first such phenomena
were at best frivolous and entertaining, featuring objects that moved
or "tapped" under what was said to be spirit control. In
some cases, this was a type of communication: the spirits answered
questions by controlling the movements of objects so as to pick out
letters to form words, or simply indicate "yes" or "no."
At the time, Franz Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism was popular
in the upper reaches of society. When confronted with the phenomena
described, many scientists including Rivail pointed out that animal
magnetism might explain them. Rivail, however, after personally seeing
a demonstration, dismissed the animal-magnetism hypothesis as being
insufficient to completely explain all the facts observed. Rivail
was determined to understand exactly what was causing the physical
effects popularly attributed to spirits.
As an academic with a solid scientific background, Rivail decided
to do his own research. Not being a medium, he compiled a list of
questions and began working with mediums and channelers to pose them
to spirits. Soon the quality of communication with spirits appeared
to improve markedly. In 1857 Rivail (signing himself "Allan Kardec")
published his first book on Spiritism, The Spirits Book. It comprised
a series of 1,018 questions exploring matters concerning the nature
of spirits, the spirit world, and the relations between the spirit
world and the material world. This was followed by a series of other
books, like The Medium's Book, The Gospel According to Spiritism,
Heaven and Hell, Genesis, and by a periodical, the Revue Spirite,
which Kardec published until his death.
Rivail first used the name "Allan Kardec" after a spirit
with who he had been communicating told him about a previous incarnation
of his as a Druid by that name. Rivail liked the name and decided
to use it to keep his Spiritualist writings separate from his academic
work.
He is interred at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.
Take a Virtual tour Cimetière du Père
Lachaise Paris, France
