New Religious Movement

Spiritism (Allan Kardec, mainstream)

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Confidence: HighLast reviewed 29 May 20262 countriesWikipedia

Mainstream French / Brazilian mediumship religion founded by Allan Kardec (1857). Substantial Brazilian following (millions). Distinctive doctrine of reincarnation and progressive evolution.

CLCI radar

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Low Control

BITE breakdown

Behavior Control2/10

Information Control2/10

Thought Control3/10

Emotional Control3/10

Modifiers (+0)

0 — mainstream French / Brazilian mediumship religion; voluntary low-control.

Founded

1857

Members

Estimated 13+ million in Brazil

Active in

LatAm, Europe

In context

Spiritism is the largest mediumship-based religion globally, dominant in Brazil. Distinctive Kardecist doctrine of reincarnation and spirit evolution. Mainstream low-control voluntary religion; Chico Xavier (1910–2002) was its most famous Brazilian medium.

Recovery resources

ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.

See the full curated list at /resources.

Evidence by BITE axis

Thought Control

voluntary low-control

Timeline

1857
Kardec publishes 'The Spirits' Book'

Sources

David J. Hess academic work search ↗

We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.

Change history

Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.

2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.

Relevant hubs

Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.

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Disclaimer. This profile is an educational summary based on publicly available reports. Many members of this group do not experience the patterns described. Individual congregations and chapters vary widely. If you or someone you know needs support, contact a licensed therapist or the International Cultic Studies Association.