Continue to print books, newspapers and magazines until 1904. At that time the spanish Spiritism is frankly orthodox and the attempts of the independent thinkers have found antipathy in the dough. Spain is orthodox in all things, even the heterodox. Still, in spite of the eclipse that suffers spiritualism, there are a large number of spiritualists and among the popular element are many schools, where it was only in communications and to “give light” to the disembodied. And in almost all, there is a “holy man” willing to revere, and you will see.

Moving forward in time, we can say that the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939) meant a great advance for Spiritism, as it was no longer the great unknown. Spain, which was the first power in number of followers, since more than 200 Centres were registered in the Federation, was the seat of the International Spiritist Congress, which was again held in Barcelona, from the 1st to the 10th of September 1934. The authorities of both the city council and the Generalitat were very supportive. The Mayor of Barcelona, Carles Pi i Sunyer, in addition to donating the Palacio de Proyecciones, offered a reception in the City Hall to the Congress participants.

The president of the Generalitat was not able to attend the opening of the international congress, but sent a representation to the deputy Amadeu Colldeforns that said at the end of his speech to congress: “Welcome to our land, and may God grant that you may achieve great victories in this vast field of study and experimentation, and may these triumphs facilitate the work of the spiritual emancipation of mankind. I augur these triumphs for you, because you are accompanied by the science which enables you to control and demonstrate these spiritualistic phenomena, and with the scientific demonstration of which you can achieve the absolute victory of your ideals and of the humanitarian aspirations with which you seek to struggle against the indifference of men.

Sociologist Gerard Horta's documented work "Cos i revolució" reports that in 1929, in the house of the future president Companys, mediumistic meetings took place. And likewise, in the early post-war years, in Barcelona's Modelo prison, full of anarchist and communist prisoners, there were also meetings of spiritists in the cells. At that time, the workers' movement and spiritism went hand in hand.

Spiritism spread widely among the popular strata despite attacks from the Catholic Church, because of its proposal of a reasoned spirituality, without dogmas or cults, centred on universal brotherhood. In the words of Gerard Horta, it spread like "secular, anti-authoritarian, egalitarian and socialising religion of the higher ideal of the collective good". It is therefore not surprising that people such as Emilio Castelar, the elected president of the First Spanish Republic, proclaimed themselves to be spiritists. Also, as Miguel Vives expressed in the Congress of 1934: "For the spiritists, the homeland is the world and the family is humanity". Spiritism was such a dynamic and liberating social movement in the first decades of the 20th century that only the brutal repression from 1939 onwards, with executions and pillaging, managed to silence it for decades.

During the civil war some spiritist groups continued to meet, but most of them were dissolved due to the war and political pressures, as the minutes of the spiritist centre "La verdad por la Ciencia" in Jumilla show. The minutes of dissolution, dated 21 January 1939, contain this revealing piece of information “according to our federation, are dissolved completely almost all the associations federated, since the onset of the revolutionary movement in Spain, but due to pressure from the revolutionaries of different ideas”.

With the end of the civil war in 1939 and the triumph of the military dictatorship, Spiritualism, like all other forms of thought that did not conform to the new totalitarian regime, was banned and persecuted. Spiritism went underground, many historical centres were closed and their documentation was hidden, destroyed or seized. The documents of the Spanish Spiritist Federation, whose headquarters were in Barcelona at the time, and of some spiritist centres were plundered.

From 1939 until 1978, the year of the Spanish Constitution, spiritist ideas were shrouded in a very dark and dense cloak, the deepest of silences made its mark. Any public demonstration was tantamount to a beating and imprisonment. The centres were closed, the spiritist press suspended and all publications banned. Books were treasured with the utmost suspicion in secret places so as not to be found, and meetings, as if in the time of the catacombs, were held in absolute seclusion and almost always with the family.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Brazil, Spiritism was taking over and many future Spanish spiritists, even without knowing it, were being initiated there to later sow the seeds that would bring it back to life in their homeland.

In the 1970s, several of these spiritists who had travelled to Brazil began their work of dissemination. The unrepeatable figure of Rafael González Molina, (1920-2005) true architect of the legalisation of Spiritism in Spain, managed to constitute the Spanish Spiritist Federation in 1984, of which he was its president until 1997, bringing to Spain the most relevant figures of the time such as: Divaldo Pereira Franco, Juan Antonio Durante, Raúl Teixeira or José Medrado, being also founder of the "Centre for Spiritist Studies and Dissemination". José Aniorte Alcaraz (1920-2013) who, after his experiences in that country (narrated in his autobiography "Facts and works of a life"), became convinced of the spiritist reality and began to publish the basic works that he has distributed free of charge since then, especially those that include the articles of Amalia Domingo Soler in collaboration with her group "La Luz del Camino" of Orihuela.

Another character that is very dear, and that remained the Spiritualism live during all the dictatorship, both in his heart and in his works was Manuel Uceda Flowers (1923-2005), whose group “Light, Science and Love” Jaén published an interesting work “From the afterlife”, where you will find a selection of papers that were given in their meetings secret from 1931 until 1979, covering the period stated above.

In 1981 the First National Spiritist Congress took place, the first important event since the 1934 Congress. Little by little Spiritism in Spain began to emerge from its lethargy, groups began to form and federate; the clandestine meetings of a rather familiar scope, fruit of the long years of prohibition, gave way to meetings with people of identical convictions, in a constructive and comforting exchange; the magazines began their boom again; Spiritist works were once again marketed in Spain, with works coming from Argentina and with Spanish publishers, among which we highlight the "Editora Espírita Española" founded by Rafael González Molina in 1985.

Days 26, 27 and 28 of November, 1992, the CONGRESS SPIRITIST WORLD in Madrid, in the Palace of Exhibitions and Congresses, during which and in the headquarters of the FEE, the madrid Puerta del Sol number 10 3º Izda., is created to promote the unification of the spiritist movement, he at the global level, the COUNCIL SPIRITIST INTERNATIONAL, being chosen as secretary, Mr. González Molina recognized at the international level.

From 1993, with a MINI CONGRESS, held in Montilla, the National Spiritist Congresses began, which is the Spiritist event par excellence in Spain, usually held during the first long weekend in December, being an ideal moment for the reunion of old friends and to learn what Spiritism is for those who are approaching it for the first time. In 2010 the VI WORLD SPIRITUAL CONGRESS was held again, this time in Valencia, and the president of the Spanish Spiritist Federation, Don Salvador Martín Moral, has held the position since 2000. From 1997 until 2000, another very dear and respected person in Spanish Spiritism, Don Santiago Gené Mateu, current president of the "Centro Espirita Joanna de Angelis" in Reus, was the president of the Spanish Spiritist Federation.

The number of federated groups in Spain has increased progressively since 1984, with continuous meetings, talks, colloquiums, symposiums, national and regional congresses, editions of newspapers and magazines, various activities, generated by the spiritist groups, as well as the Spanish Spiritist Federation.

Therefore, the Spiritism in Spain is brimming with the communicative health and seriousness of its best moments, as its number of followers is increasing day by day and its way of reaching the public in a clear and direct way is modernising.

Sources: www.espiritasmadrid.com