Modern Occultism in Late Imperial Russia

1—The Laboratory in the Salon: Spiritualism Comes to Russia

1 The Laboratory in the Salon Spiritualism Comes to Russia T he origins of the widespread late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century fascination with the transcendental in the russian empire go back about half a century to the 1850s, when spiritualism made its first appearance in russia.1 initially, spiritualists constituted a small and exclusive group of highly educated and socially privileged people. By the end of the century, their constituency had widened significantly, and this development changed the character of spiritualist practice and thought. The history of spiritualism in russia from its inception to the early stages of its popular success, and the importance of scientific thought and aristocratic forms of sociability to its development, lies at the center of this chapter. spiritualism came to russia from the united states via Western europe.2 The beginnings of modern spiritualism can be dated quite precisely to March 31, 1848, when two teenage girls, Kate and Margaret Fox, heard knocks in their house in hydesville, in upstate new York, which they claimed came from the other world. They soon established communications with the alleged spirit, and newspapers quickly spread the news about their success to other parts of the united states.3 numerous contemporaries emulated their example and began to communicate with the dead, and the ritual of the spiritualist séance emerged. These were gatherings at which participants assembled in darkened rooms and, aided by the nervous sensitivity of a medium, awaited supernatural occurrences. even the periodic discovery of deception did not halt the spread of these activities.4 american spiritualism soon spread to europe, and Britain eventually became home to one influential strain of spiritualism in the Old 22 MODERN OCCULTISM in LATE IMPERIAL RUSSIA World. British mediums developed famous reputations, the island’s spiritualists were famed for their scientific study of séance phenomena, and many continental europeans, including russians, were proud to be accepted into the membership of celebrated British associations devoted to the topic.5 a second, more mystical strand of spiritualism developed in France under the leadership of allan Kardec, whose ideas elaborated theories about reincarnation in addition to spirit communication.6 Both the British and the French style of spiritualism found supporters in russia. in russia, spiritualism became a topic of salon conversations in the 1850s. The lawyer anatolii Fedorovich Koni recalled in his memoirs how, along with the game of lotto, “the gullible pursuit of prophetic tables” became “a popular pastime” at this time. “Many passionately took up these things, putting a miniature purpose-built table with a little hole for a pencil on a sheet of paper and placing on it the hands of those through whom the spirits liked to communicate in writing ‘the secrets of eternity and the grave.’”7 later, russian adepts precisely dated the emergence of spiritualism in russia to the winter season of 1852. “Tables, hats, and saucers turned everywhere and talks about rappings at night began to make their rounds.”8 russian spiritualism received a boost in 1858, when Daniel Dunglas home (pronounced “hume”) visited the empire.9 home was arguably the most famous medium of all time. he was born in scotland but grew up in new england, where he discovered his mediumistic abilities. he never had another profession apart from his spiritualist career, and he was the only medium never to have been exposed as a fraud. in 1858, home travelled to rome where he met his future wife, the seventeen-year-old aleksandra Kroll, a goddaughter of the tsar. in the same year, on the occasion of his marriage to aleksandra, home visited his wife’s homeland for the first time, and the couple stayed in Russia for almost a year. home held numerous séances, which were attended by exquisite and select members of the high aristocracy, including alexander ii himself. Yet, despite the extended time home spent in russia, his visit did not have major consequences for the spread of spiritualism in the tsarist empire. his audience, it seems, was too exclusive to turn séances into truly popular pursuits. spiritualists later bemoaned that séances “were not treated with the necessary seriousness” in the 1850s and “served almost exclusively as fashionable and marvelous salon entertainment.”10 indeed, the infatuation with spiritualism in the 1850s did not leave a lasting trace and produced few manuscripts or published documents. spirit messages from beyond the grave were as ephemeral as their alleged authors; the fashion appeared briefly and at intervals, before [18.117...