ABSTRACT
The phenomenon and practice of mediumship have existed from antiquity. The medium is a human channel through which spirits of the departed communicate with persons on earth. The earliest communications with spirits were in dreams. Emanuel Swedenborg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, January 25, 1685. The son of a Lutheran minister, he was educated at Uppsala, and in England, France, Holland, and Germany. He studied metallurgy, geology, and chemistry and was an Assessor on the Board of Mines and a legislator in the Diet. His studies in physiology and psychology caused him to ponder the idea of the spirit. In his mid-fifties, Swedenborg turned to theology. Franz Mesmer was an eighteenth century Austrian physician who believed that he had discovered a force called “Animal Magnetism.” It consisted of a very subtle fluid capable of receiving and communicating all impressions of motion independently of distance or intermediary agent.
