Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Religious Studies

Major Professor

Tori Lockler, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Michael P. DeJonge, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Shaunesse' Jacobs Plaisimond, Ph.D.

Keywords

Afterlife, Allan Kardec, Chico Xavier, Psychography, Reincarnation, Spiritism

Abstract

This thesis explores the transformative influence of Brazilian Spiritism on the experience of grief, utilizing a qualitative framework of autoethnography and ethnography. The research begins with the author’s personal account of transitioning from paralyzing existential anxiety and a childhood fear of hell and death to a state of spiritual peace fostered by the study of the Spiritist Doctrine. Historically perceived as an unbearable mystery, Spiritism posits life as a continuous continuum where the immortal soul merely sheds the physical body like a cocoon to return to its true home.

Rooted in the 19th-century codification by Allan Kardec, the doctrine is built upon fundamental pillars: the immortality of the soul, reincarnation, and communication with spirits. A central focus is the phenomenon of psychography, particularly the "Comforting Letters" popularized by Chico Xavier and continued by contemporary mediums such as Nilton Stuqui. Stuqui, a medium interviewed for this research who has produced over 60,000 such letters, provides grieving families with verifiable personal details that serve as empirical validation of a loved one's survival, effectively mitigating despair.

Through in-depth interviews, the study demonstrates how spiritual communications facilitate a balanced transition through loss. The findings suggest that Spiritists often navigate grief differently than the five stages proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross; by viewing life and death as a pre-negotiated reincarnation plan, they frequently bypass feelings of anger or bargaining. Ultimately, the research concludes that Spiritism acts as "The Comforter," replacing the terror of total annihilation with the certainty of future reunions and the gentle persistence of saudades.

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