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Spiritualism is the Science, Philosophy, and Religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of a medium, with those who live in the Spirit World. It is believed that spirits know the past, present and future, allowing mediums to create psychic readings from the information they receive through spirits.

Emma Hardinge Britten, was born in 1823 under the name Emma Floyd. As a child, Emma predicted futures of people she met based on visions and information she aquired from their deceased relatives. In 1855 Emma moved to New York and one year later became famous as a psychic medium after predicting the disappearance of the steamship Pacific. She performed her psychic readings by entering a trance. She later went on to write many books on spiritualism. Emma was also one of six founding members of the Theosophical Society.

In 1853 the first Spiritualist Church was formed by David Richmond in the British Isles. By 1891 the National Federation of Spiritualists was well organized with many followers. In 1902 they changed their name to the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU). Amonst these followers were anti-temperance and anti-capital punishment lobbiest. Some were active in Women's Rights. They were considered radicals in the Victorian period. The Arthur Findlay College, adhering to the belief of Spiritualism to be a religion with an affilliation to Christianity. This College is still in existance today.

Among the aristocracy in Britian, Daniel Dunglas Home, a Scotish medium was very popular. He presumably had the ability to levitate, and speak with the departed.

There are Spiritualist churches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The Republic of South Africa and groups in many countries including Japan, all Scandinavian countries, Korea, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Iceland.

The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans are a group of denominations that have derived from a single church founded by Leafy Anderson who mediumship contacted the spirit of the Native American war chief Black Hawk in the early 20th century. Many Spiritual Church Movement churches use theological Spiritualism, including the use of traditional "Spirit Guides" in worship services, with a mixture of Protestant and Catholic idiologies.

Spiritualist churches are places of worship for the practitioners of Spiritualism. The service, conducted by a 'medium', begins with an opening prayer, then an address, hymns and finally a demonstration of mediumship. The best mediums do seem to produce startlingly accurate information about the spirit with who they are in contact.

The Spiritual Church accepts the Seven Principles of Spiritualism, of which principles, full individual liberty of interpretation is allowed:

The Divine Eternal Parenthood (sometimes called "the Fatherhood of God")
The Family of Humankind (sometimes called "the Brotherhood of Man")
The Interconnectedness of all Creation.
The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels
The Continuous Existence of the Human Soul
Personal and Social Responsibility, including compensation and/or retribution hereafter for the good and evil deeds done "on Earth"
Eternal progress open to every Human Soul

The word is a combination of the two Greek terms: astron (star) and logos (wisdom). Astrology is a system that finds a deeper meaning in the movement of the planetary bodies that relates to humans and things that happen on Earth. A connection between planetary movements and events in a certain location and how those events unfold at particular times.

The horoscope, is a term originating from ancient Greece which is a combination of the words 'hora' (hour, time) and 'scopein' (watch, observe). So, horoscope means the "observer of the hour" and is sometimes translated as the "observation of time". It serves as the foundation for these calculations, and because a horoscope is always computed for a certain location, astrology works with a geocentric representation.

Astrology began with observing certain planetary movements, meaning that it couldn't really be seen as separate from astronomy. However, the clarification of these movements took it beyond astronomy.

In astrology, the understanding of time plays a central role. Time has both quantitative and qualitative properties. If we observe the quality of time at the beginning of a process; astrology creats a horoscope for that time.

Astrology can be divided into two basic types; personal and mundane. Personal astrology has to do with the lives of individuals, whereas mundane astrology is relates to certain areas, or places. In individual astrology, the natal chart is the birth chart of one person. In mundane astrology, it could be the "birth" of a significant national or international event.

Prognostic astrology is a term that compares current or future events in relation to the natal chart and tries to foresee possible developments. Until recently, this was the primary characteristic of astrology, and is still widely practiced in Asia.

Comparative astrology compares the association between at least two horoscopes, draws conclusions about the quality of the relationship. As with prognostic astrology, is not restricted to individuals; any two horoscopes can be evaluated together.

Because astrology does not fit into any known scientific category and cannot be proven, the astrologer's individual interpretation is at work. There are two different types: causality and analogy.

The causal representation is based on the concept that planetary bodies directly influence events here on Earth. The supporters of this point of view; example; the Moon's gravitational pull influences the tides, plant growth and women's menstrual cycle, which is supported by science.

In conjunction to this theory, other planets have similar influences which, is more subtle nature, and are difficult to calculate. The planets are seen as a kind of measuring instrument, similar to a barometer or a clock, which designate rather than influence temperature and time. The supporters of this model believe that what happens on this planet, is a reflection of the macro-cosmos (the heavens).

In over thousands of years of observing natural phenomena and the heavens, humans have learned to recognise planetary patterns which led to the development of systematic astrological knowledge. The analogous model has numerous supporters among contemporary astrologers. C.G. Jung called this principle sychronicity, which is the idea that events occurring at the same time, are connected, even though there is no affiliation between them.

Given our rate of technological growth in the world today, all areas of our living are being challenged to find new ways of adaptation in different areas of our lives. Being psychic is no exemption to this, in fact psychic ability presents unique challenges in and of itself by its very nature. Utilizing technology in a field still viewed as highly subjective, Psychics may find their clientele expanding and through such means a text a Psychic via cell phones, palm pilots etc. Advantageous as this may seem from a marketing standpoint, it does raise the question of creditability of the field as a whole, especially in regards to physic readings.

Traditionally such physic reading were carried out in person, via face to face contact or other personal contact such as handling objects etc. With the advent of the internet, television etc. our contact with our human neighbors has expanded greatly and provided ample opportunity for interactions which in the past would not have occurred. The rise of paranormal investigations using more and more the methods and tools of science are placing Psychics in a different light today, despite the obvious exploitations of Psychic Readings for entertainment value.

If one chooses to text a Psychic, there are considerations which need to be addressed both by consumer and the proclaimed Psychic. From a Consumer stand point, is the reading one is getting from a real Psychic, or is the proclaimed Psychic texting back really who they say they are? Texting dismisses face to face contact, making it easier for deceptions on both sides to occur. The Psychic is also faced with the validity of a Psychic reading given by them to someone who is not present in physical form. Both consumer and Psychic loose the ability being able to observe such things as body language and other nuances which are necessary for successful readings. There is no way for the Psychic to determine if the person who has requested the reading is who they say they are. If the consumer tells the Psychic they are wrong, the Psychic has no way to confirm if indeed this is the truth or if the person is not being honest about the reading. There is also an ethical issue of privacy. Face to face contact is less likely to raise privacy questions, after all a spouse or lover can not hijack someone’s personal presence but cell phones, computers and such are easily hijacked and could more likely to result in privacy violations. For psychic readings, A Psychic is ethically bound to pay attention to this issue, if for no other reason from a liability issue.

To Text a Psychic may also place an unreasonable expectation on the Psychic, especially for the consumer who has been exposed to the romantic depictions of Psychics thank to the innovations and imaginations of Hollywood. Many misconceptions already abound regarding what a Psychic is, what they do and are capable of. One expectation is the Psychic will automatically “know” who the person texting is. While the Psychic may know of these false expectations, texting minimizes the impact the Psychic will have in educating the consumer who has requested the psychic reading, especially since psychic ability is so varied and different from one Psychic to the next.