The class of the mediums themselves is often ambiguous though the examples of Houghton and Berry would lead us to believe mediums were often from the lower and sometimes middle, classes. These homes were often the residence of the middle and upper classes, and could include aristocratic, even royal, residences. Whatever the reasons, domesticity and initial privacy was a key feature of the séance in Victorian England. Or perhaps it had to do with signifying status: a host who could afford to bring in a medium would also display his or her social status through the room itself. Perhaps the popularity had something to do with control: hosts and mediums could feel safe knowing that they owned and controlled the environment in which unpredictable and chaotic supernatural forces appeared. Still, this space remained the most popular for séances throughout the century. The proceedings of domestic séance parties were often published and widely distributed. As these published sources implicitly reveal, the private séance was really not a private affair at all. Or rather, it provided the illusion of safety and privacy. Of course, the medium could not guarantee what spirit would appear or what it would say, but the privacy of the space certainly provided a kind of safety for the séance participants. The private séance was a space of domestic intimacy well suited for connection to family spirits and personal questioning. At the same time, as some of the texts in this section will show, men did find ways to assert their hegemonic authority within this overtly feminine space. As the pronouns of the preceding sentence indicate, the private home séance was an environment often dominated by female presence and authority: it is logical and radical that Victorian women took the very domestic spaces men used to confine their female relations and, through spiritualist practices, reoriented them into places of power and authority. Most séances were held in the domestic setting of the parlor belonging either to the medium or to her hostess (who usually also acted as the medium’s patroness). Keeping in Touch: An Anthology of the Victorian Seance Main Menu Introduction Further Reading I - Spiritualism and Its Believers II - Ambivalent Skeptics III - Scoffers and Frauds IV - The Private Seance V - The Public Seance Work Cited Megan Bruening b3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3 The Private Seance - An Introduction 1 T12:16:21-05:00 Megan Bruening b3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3 71 3 plain T20:56:30-05:00 Megan Bruening b3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3 Spirits and Home: Private Séance Please enable Javascript and reload the page.
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