# Perispirit > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Perispirit > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Perispirit.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perispirit > Source revision: 1297262304 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Spiritism concept This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Perispirit" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Part of a series on Spiritualism Main articles Spirit (animating force) Spirit (supernatural folklore) Spiritualism (movement) Spiritualist beliefs Spiritism Vitalism Practices Mediumship Faith healing Psychometry Automatic writing Related topics Afterlife Spirit world Spirit guide Shamanism Animism Psychic Clairvoyance Paranormal Occult Ouija Parapsychology Philosophy portal Religion portal v t e In [Spiritism](/source/Kardecist_spiritism), **perispirit** or **perisprit** is the [subtle body](/source/Subtle_body) that is used by the spirit to connect with the [perceptions](/source/Perception) created by the brain. The term is found among the extensive [terminology](/source/Terminology) originally devised by [Allan Kardec](/source/Allan_Kardec) in [his books](/source/Spiritist_Codification) about [Spiritism](/source/Kardecist_spiritism). Its first use was in a commentary (by Kardec) to the answer given by the spirits to the 93rd question of *[The Spirits Book](/source/The_Spirits_Book)*: - *Is the spirit, properly so called, without a covering, or is it, as some declare, surrounded by a substance of some kind?* - "The spirit is enveloped in a substance which would appear to you as mere vapor, but which, nevertheless, appears very gross to us, thought it is sufficiently vaporous to allow the spirit to float in the atmosphere, and to transport himself through space at pleasure." - As the germ of a fruit is surrounded by the perisperm so the spirit, properly so called, is surrounded by an envelope which, by analogy, may be designated as the perispirit. Kardec was compelled to develop further the notion, especially by given "scientific" fundamentation to his theory. He studied the properties of what was then called "fluids" (electricity, magnetism, heat) and broadened the research towards those he termed "psychic" or "spiritual fluids". Both terms, especially the previous have stuck and are still used (or abused) up to now. ## Properties In Kardec's later conception, found in *[The Book on Mediums](/source/The_Book_on_Mediums)*, he described the *perispirit* (then assumed as "technical term") in terms of a "fluidic body" with the following properties: - It is made of the "Universal Cosmic Fluid", which in different densities and states, is the source of all matter; - It enclosed the spirit proper; - It gave the spirit an appearance drawn from his previous life and his current state, serving as a shape by which spirits saw each other; - It sends forth "fluidic" emanations that can affect those around; - Being "subtle" and semi-material, it was able to act as a bond between the physical body (material) and the spirit (immaterial); - It allowed the spirit to act over matter other than that of its body, to some extent; - It is constantly under change, as the spirit progresses and may eventually be harmed, even destroyed. - It won't be necessary any more when all spirits attain perfection. ## Importance for mediumship The perispirit plays a key role in the phenomenon of [mediumship](/source/Mediumship), which actually involves the interaction of the perispirit of the medium and that of a disembodied spirit. When invited to our plane of existence by a medium, "spirits who inhabit worlds of higher degree than ours ... are obliged to clothe themselves with" a garment composed of perispirit.[1] "The most elevated spirits, when they come to visit us, assume a terrestrial perispirit, which they retain during their stay among us".[2] "According to Kardec, it is through the perispirit that disincarnate spirits ... can move objects."[3] (Thus, the perispirit is responsible for [poltergeist](/source/Poltergeist) manifestations.) ## New-Age conception Main article: [subtle body](/source/Subtle_body) Due to [syncretism](/source/Syncretism), some variations of spiritism accept the *perispirit* as an actual "body" possessing [power centres](/source/Chakra), defined more or less in the same way that [Theosophy](/source/Theosophy_(Blavatskian)) and [Yoga](/source/Yoga) define the [Chakras](/source/Chakra), thus making the concept of perispirit similar to that of an [astral body](/source/Astral_body), a concept that was unknown to Kardec. According to this orientalizing view, the perispirit had the function of modelling the physical body ("soma" [in Greek; "deha" in Sanskrit]) after the design determined by the [karma](/source/Karma), with each chakra linking itself to a [gland](/source/Gland) and to the [nervous system](/source/Nervous_system). This perispirit would use the chakras to command the body and to receive sensorial impressions from it. ## Garment of soul in Gnosticism In [Mandaic](/source/Mandaeism) soteriology, the soul of the dead, upon entering the House of Life, "receives a garment and a wreath."[4] (Here, the "garment" = perispirit; and the "wreath" = halo.) The "metaphor of soul as garment"[5] is a commonplace in Russian mysticism. ## Notes This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [*The Spirits' Book*, §94](http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardecspiritsbook2chapt1.html) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [*The Spirits' Book*, p. 117](https://books.google.com/books?id=rSHKA9wn0CsC&dq=perispirit+garment&pg=RA1-PA117) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** "Human Radiations", p. 144 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Willis Barnstone & Marvin Meyer : *The Gnostic Bible*. Shambhala, Boston, 2003. p. 533](https://books.google.com/books?id=LXf8jPbHA14C&dq=Mandaic+soul++garment+OR+clothing&pg=PT545) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Alexandar Mihailovics : *Corporeal Words : Mikhail Bakhtin's Theology of Discourse*. Northwestern University Press, 1997. p. 36](https://books.google.com/books?id=73K0xXILQRkC&dq=%22soul+as+garment%22&pg=PA36) ## References - Allan Kardec (translated by [Anna Blackwell](/source/Anna_Blackwell)): *The Spirits' Book*. - Carlos S. Alvarado : "Human Radiations". *[Journal of the Society for Psychical Research](/source/Journal_of_the_Society_for_Psychical_Research)*. Vol. 70.3; No. 884. [http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/personalitystudies/publicationslinks/alvarado-human-radiations-jspr-2006.pdf](http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/personalitystudies/publicationslinks/alvarado-human-radiations-jspr-2006.pdf) v t e Spiritualism and spiritism History and beliefs Apport Automatic writing Chinkon kishin Cross-Correspondences Ectoplasm Faith healing Materialization Mediumship Séance Spirit guides Spiritual healing Spirit obsession Spirit photography Spirit possession Spirit world Table-turning Spiritualists Derek Acorah Rosemary Altea Dan Aykroyd Charles Bailey Bangs Sisters Ada Besinnet Stephen E. Braude William Breeze Rosemary Brown Sylvia Browne Eva Carrière Doris Collins Florence Cook Mina Crandon William Crookes Geraldine Cummins Pearl Curran Frank Decker Arthur Conan Doyle Helen Duncan Eddy Brothers Harry Edwards John Edward William Eglinton Colin Evans Fox sisters Leslie Flint Arthur Ford Colin Fry Eileen Garrett Kathleen Goligher Rita Goold Jan Guzyk Robert Hare Alec Harris Gordon Higginson Richard Hodgson Daniel Dunglas Home Elizabeth Hope William Hope Swami Laura Horos Cecil Husk James H. Hyslop Allan Kardec Franek Kluski Gladys Osborne Leonard Oliver Lodge Heinrich Melzer Carmine Mirabelli Francis Ward Monck William Usborne Moore William Stainton Moses Einer Nielsen Eusapia Palladino Leonora Piper Ethel Post-Parrish James Van Praagh Bert Reese Estelle Roberts Jane Roberts William Roy Rudi Schneider Maria Silbert Henry Slade Doris Stokes Emanuel Swedenborg Rosina Thompson Stanisława Tomczyk Ena Twigg George Valiantine Jack Webber Etta Wriedt Chico Xavier Organizations List of Spiritualist organizations Spiritualist churches London Spiritualist Alliance Morris Pratt Institute National Spiritualist Association of Churches Spiritualists' National Union Spiritualist Association of Great Britain Spiritual church movement Arthur Findlay College International Spiritualist Federation Skeptics David Abbott John Henry Anderson George Miller Beard Ruth Brandon Lionel Branson Derren Brown William Carpenter Milbourne Christopher Edward Clodd Edmund Smith Conklin Millais Culpin Stuart Cumberland Eric Dingwall Joseph Dunninger Henry Evans Chris French Martin Gardner G. Stanley Hall Trevor H. Hall William A. Hammond C. E. M. Hansel Carlos María de Heredia Carl Hertz Terence Hines Harry Houdini Joseph Jastrow Stanley LeFevre Krebs Rose Mackenberg David Marks John Nevil Maskelyne Henry Maudsley Joseph McCabe Henry C. McComas Georgess McHargue Charles Arthur Mercier Albert Moll John Mulholland Fulton Oursler Joe Nickell E. Clephan Palmer Ronald Pearsall Frank Podmore Massimo Polidoro Harry Price Julien J. Proskauer James Randi Donovan Rawcliffe Joseph F. Rinn C. E. Bechhofer Roberts Chung Ling Soo Gordon Stein Amy Tanner Ivor Lloyd Tuckett Lyttelton Winslow Richard Wiseman --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Perispirit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perispirit) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perispirit?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.