The word Spiritism derives from the french Spiritisme, a name created by Allan Kardec in 1857 in order to denominate the set of scientific, philosophical, religious and moral principles which consist the Doctrine he wrote according to the guidance he had from the high and pure spirits who inspired him and answered his questions. 

The name Spiritualism (Spiritualisme in french) was not fit then and is not fit today either to designate a Doctrine. It has a rather general meaning, encompassing all religious traditions, mystical practices and philosophical positions that share the belief in the existence of  spirits, their interaction with human beings, who are themselves incarnated spirits, and in the immortality of the spirit.

Therefore, we can say that Spiritism is a spiritualist Doctrine. It is clear, nevertheless, that Spiritualism is not another name for Spiritism.

The explanation above is necessary for two distinct reasons. There are some respectable spiritualist religions in Brazil with origins in the beliefs that african slaves brought to the country in the past. Many people carelessly call spiritists the followers of any of those religions, while each one has a proper designation which is used by its serious members and devotees. In the United States, the confusion is with the so called New Spiritualism, a set of beliefs and traditions also originated in the second half of the XIX century, but which do not follow the Doctrine written by Kardec and neither share its principles.

Spiritism does not have dogmatic positions concerning faith. Kardec, with his large experience as an educator and being inspired and supported by the group of high level spirits leaded by the Spirit of Truth, compiled the Spiritist Doctrine in five basic works. The Spiritist Doctrine was also called the Doctrine of the Spirits by Kardec, due to the fact that most of it consists of answers given by those high spirits to the questions proposed by Kardec and the respectable researchers who worked with him.

The five basic works of Spiritism are: The Spirits' Book, The Mediums' Book, The Gospel According to Spiritism, Heaven and Hell, and The Genesis According to Spiritism. In that order, they form a complete didactic set that takes the reader to a serious and cautious reflection over the main existential themes that have always defied human mind. Nothing is presented there as a dogma. Each principle is exposed and examined under the light of reason, logic and good sense. Nothing is demanded from the reader without leaving him free to reason and conclude by himself. 

Anyone who seriously intends to know Spiritism is strongly recommended to read and study its five main works, the so called Spiritist Codification. In order that one may have a first and simplified overview of it, we will list some of its main principles:
 
 

• God is the primary intelligence, the Creator of all beings and of all things, permeating all the Universe or Universes, being present within each creature and transcending all creation;

• besides the material dimensions,  there are also spiritual dimensions, which are inhabited by discarnate spirits in their various evolution levels. Incarnate spirits live in the many worlds that exist in the material dimensions. Material and spiritual dimensions interpenetrate one another;  

• every nature's law is a law of God; what is called a miracle or a supernatural event today is nothing but a natural event that human knowledge presently ignores; 
• moral laws are God's laws as well as physical laws; moral laws as created by God can be easily recognized as those that have stood unchanged since the most remote past, having never missed in any religious doctrine, despite never having been the exclusive property of any belief, creed, culture or ethnic group;

• Heaven and Hell do not exist as physical places, as the final destinies of righteous persons and sinners. When the spirit leaves the body in the so-called death, he will perceive, through his subtle senses, exactly the mental projections that he will have built in the period previous to his discarnation. In the spiritual dimensions, mental projections are perceived by the senses as if they were material realities. One spirit may thus observe the most horrendous monsters while another observes the most wondering beauties. Being that way, each spirit builds for himself his particular heaven or hell. The degree of attraction between one spirit and another and the cause and effect relationships will determinate the creation of communities of the most different types, all along the spectrum of spiritual evolution; 
• Spirits evolve continuously, reincarnating as many times as needed for their apprenticeship; 
• incarnate spirits - men and women - enjoy free will. Nevertheless, they also suffer the reactive effect of their past actions, good or bad. The same way happens in the future, when they will suffer the effect of their present actions. That is the principle of cause and effect, also called karma by the oriental traditions; 
• angels and devils do not exist as beings created as such from the beginning. Spirits that persist in bad actions project over other spirits' senses shapes that will resemble the mental model that the culture of the observer will have built in his mind as that of a devil. That way, still inferior and bad spirits may be perceived by spirits of occidental culture, both incarnate and discarnate, as male, dressed in red, having an arrow ended tail and sharp horns on his head. Spirits of other predominant cultures may perceive them as having the most bizarre and grotesque animal appearance. On the other hand, those who have persisted in the path of goodness may be perceived as dressed in white robes, having a large and white pair of wings and a halo over the head or else as ethereal and luminous beings; 

 
• Spirits are created simple and ignorant and they keep  increasing in goodness and wisdom each one in his proper rhythm along their various incarnations, being classified by Spiritism as belonging to various orders according to the stage of  evolution which they have attained at at that time: Pure Spirits, those who have attained perfection having been linked again to the Creator; Good Spirits, those who have goodness and wisdom as predominant qualities; Imperfect Spirits, those who are still characterized by ignorance, bad intentions and inferior passions.

• a continuous interchange between incarnate and discarnate Spirits exists and has always existed, according to their emotional affinity, common habits and similar social conduct. Inferior discarnate spirits, subject to ill passions, fail to communicate and interfere with incarnate spirits who are well advanced in wisdom and goodness, as well as wise and good discarnate spirits fail to inspire good ideas to libertine or wicked incarnate spirits. The spiritual companions of an incarnate spirit are very similar to the incarnate companions he chooses for himself; 
• medium is the name given to the spirit - man or woman - that serves as medium to the communication between discarnate and incarnate spirits. Being a medium does not mean being a Spiritist, neither does it denote having good moral qualities; 
• since mediumship is a gift, that is, something a person has not made any effort to obtain, it has to be practiced free of charge in favor of the needed. Spiritism is coherent with the principle: "Give for free what you have received free". Whereas it is true that not all free of charge mediumistic practice is spiritist, it is also true that all spiritist mediumistic practice is free of charge;  

• Jesus Christ is the main guide of Humanity. With his words and his living example He is the Master, the elder brother that has succeeded, the model to be followed by all of us. He did not teach what he had learned in the books but what he already knew by His personal experience. He persuaded us to have faith by showing us what faith is capable of, healing all kinds of sufferers, multiplying bread and fish, walking on the sea. He declared Himself Son of God and taught us to call God our Father, so that we might understand that we, too, are His children. He summoned us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves giving on Mount Calvary the sublime evidence of His love for all Mankind. He demonstrated beyond any doubt the immortality of the soul, talking with the spirits of Elias and Moses on mount Tabor and showing himself  to his disciples after His body's death on the cross. 

There are no priests and there is no ecclesiastic hierarchy in Spiritism. There are neither titles nor differentiated forms of address in Spiritism as well Spiritists call one other brother or sister. 

Any group of spiritists can found a Spiritist Center or Institution. All one has to do is follow the recommendations that can be found in the  Codification or in proper doctrinaire works.

In Brazil, Spiritist Centers join in Regional Societies and Federations. Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) is the national organization which congregates societies and federations from all Brazilian states. 

There are no rituals in Spiritism. Pictures, statues, sculptures, amulets, special objects of any kind, none of those are used. Neither does Spiritism prescribe vegetarianism. In that respect it is always worth remembering that Hitler was a vegetarian and that being so did not make him exactly a saint. 

The motto of Spiritism is "Outside Charity there is no Salvation"  in opposition to the motto "Outside Church there is no Salvation".

According to Spiritism, any person that follows the path of goodness, being just and honest, loving and respecting his neighbors, is following the straight and sure path back to the Father's House, no matter which religion or creed he has.

On the other hand a person that calls himself a spiritist but has bad thoughts or sayings about other people, fails to assist or even does wrong to his neighbor, is certainly stopping his progress. It will be of no use his going to the Spiritist Center every morning and listening to all doctrinaire lectures unless he decides to change himself and dedicate to goodness.

A person that wants to become a spiritist does not need to submit to any kind of baptism ot initiation.

To be short, all one needs is the desire to become a better person.

Nevertheless, there are three basic premises that must be fulfilled, as Kardec clearly indicated in Chapter 1 of The Mediums' Book. One must:

• believe in God 
• believe he has a soul 
• believe in the survival of the soul after death 

A spiritist is a person who studies, reading the works of the Codification and good doctrinaire works besides participating in meetings to study and discuss those works.

A spiritist is a person that practices charity faithful to the motto "Outside Charity there is no Salvation". Charity is among all virtues the most excellent, as explained by Paul the Apostle in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. Yet charity is much more than the action of giving alms. Charity is above all the act of loving our neighbors as much as we love ourselves, as so wisely taught by Christ. Never do to others what we do not want them to do to us. Be to the others as kind as we would like them to be to us. Help whoever needs, help those that are less developed than us, either materially or spiritually. And never expecting any reward, thanks or admiration.