• The Musée des Confuences is devoting its new temporary exhibition to magical practices from antiquity to the present day, on all continents.

  • A part is devoted to daily rites, in particular to spiritualism, a very popular current in the 19th century.

  • The theoretician of spiritism, Allan Kardec was a pedagogue from Lyon who wanted to bring together the communication of spirits with science and religion.

The entrance, with its red curtains and ghostly trees, immediately plunges into a

Twin Peaks

atmosphere .

The Magic

exhibition

, which is held until March 5, 2023 at the Musée des Confluences, in Lyon, is not a fiction: it presents magical practices from antiquity to the present day, through its objects, in the whole world.

A fascinating anthropological point of view, served by a superb museography, the darkness and certain background sounds can also impress the most sensitive visitors...

A small round table is placed in front of a screen on which are projected images of spiritism, very popular in the 19th century, and whose theoretician is none other than a Lyonnais whose bust can be seen: Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, alias Allan Kardec.

"You could say that Lyon was a cradle of spiritualism," admits Carole Millon, project manager for the museum's exhibitions.

“Spiritualism, which is this idea of ​​communicating with the dead, was born in the United States in 1847, with two sisters who said they could communicate with the spirits of their house.

The phenomenon will experience incredible enthusiasm, even in Europe, at a time when there is great interest in hypnosis and the occult sciences.

»

Victor Hugo follower of spiritualism

Talk to spirits?

Yes, provided you bring together certain objects presented in the window: turntable, Ouija board engraved with an alphabet, where the spirits guide the hand of the medium, letter by letter, to deliver their message from beyond the grave...

It was then that Allan Kardec, a Cartesian teacher, looked into this mystery in a scientific way.

"He wants to look further than simple communication with spirits, he will theorize it, talk about a religious and scientific revelation", specifies Carole Millon.

“By questioning his relationship to science, to religion, he will create a philosophical doctrine, theorized in numerous works.

The most important being

The Book of the Spirits

in 1857, translated into several languages ​​and regularly republished since.

»

Kardec also created

La Revue spiritiste

, which still exists, and formed spiritist circles, more developed in town than in the countryside, where the social aspect of spiritism took precedence over superstitions.

“Among the people who follow this current we find great intellectuals of the time, like Victor Hugo, because it is also a question of finding loved ones, remarks Carole Millon.

With magic, we quickly touch beliefs and intimacy.

»

Half of 15-30 year olds believe in witchcraft

At the death of Kardec in 1869, spiritualist circles will gradually decline.

His books will be distributed all over the world, with a particularly strong anchoring in Brazil.

The exhibition, which does not seek to know what is real or not, aims above all to show that "magic, and magical practices, have been present since the earliest times, all over the world, despite a tumultuous history”, summarizes Carole Millon.

And that magic is still part of our daily lives, even without our knowledge.

“In the West, with the witch hunt, with the Enlightenment, we wanted to keep a very rational side.

And yet, nowadays, nearly half of 15-30 year olds believe in witchcraft,” adds the project manager.

At the end of the route, visitors are invited to tie a ribbon of colored paper around fake trees, making a wish.

Open or skeptical, everyone lends themselves to the game.

"This idea of ​​magic in the broad sense, of being able to intervene on destiny, has never disappeared", summarizes Carole Millon.

It is also a form of hope, to tell oneself that one can modify the course of things by the intervention of entities.

There's always a little something that makes you want to believe it…” The exhibition curators, all scientists, won't say the opposite: “We took great care to place the pentacle in the right direction!

»

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  • Culture

  • Exposure

  • Ghosts

  • Paranormal

  • Magic

  • Lyons

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes