There are curious parallels between the moves that preceded the emergence of spiritist philosophy and those that motivated the emergence of apometry, about a hundred years later. Among them, the intrepidity of two men, who unveiled, in a plot started in nineteenth-century France, a range of possibilities about the spiritual world. Some of them demonstrate how much the apometric technique can favor and improve mediumistic practice.
Approximately one year before starting the research that would give rise to spiritism, Professor Rivail (1804–1869) heard the news about the so-called turning tables. Sensation at certain Parisian parties, the phenomenon consisted of pieces of furniture that described movements in plain sight, in an apparently inexplicable or, who knows, supernatural way. Months later, the magnetizer Fortier, a friend who had told him about it, added: the tables also communicate, based on pre-established codes, and answer intelligent queries. The one who would soon adopt the pseudonym of Allan Kardec faced the last revelation with skepticism, until, in May 1855, he witnessed those facts for the first time. He then began to attend, regular meetings where facts of this kind were produced. 1In August of the same year, at the height of summer in the French capital, he began the studies that would lead him to compose the cornerstone of the nascent philosophy, The Book of Spirits, which would be published a little over a year and a half later, in April. from 1857.
During the investigations that allowed the Rio Grande do Sul physician José Lacerda de Azevedo (1919–1997) to develop and improve apometry, it was never among his objectives to erect a doctrine or a philosophy, contrary to what Kardec was quickly able to deduce that it would be up to him, as he who advanced in contact with the phenomena. However, the story of how the Brazilian spiritist awakened to the experiences that made him envision the formulation of the apometric technique has interesting similarities and coincidences with the circumstances surrounding the French professor at his time.
MASTER TRAINING COURSE IN APOMETRY
FROM PARIS TO PORTO ALEGRE
After approximately a century of Kardecian research, his disciple Lacerda dedicated himself to the spiritist practice in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of Brazil, since his youth. In 1965, physician Conrado Ferrari, then director of the Hospital Espírita de Porto Alegre (HEPA), insisted that his colleague attend a presentation by a Puerto Rican named Luiz Rodrigues, based in Rio de Janeiro, who would come to that city to demonstrate an innovative technique called hypnometry. Lacerda attended with some reticence. However, given the phenomena observed regarding the unfolding of the astral body, he immediately envisioned applications that went unnoticed by the creator of hypnometry — who knows, at least in part, due to his lack of knowledge of the spiritist science.
On the same night of the remarkable conference, as soon as he got home, the doctor from Rio Grande do Sul decided to test what he had seen, administering the procedure learned to his wife. Yolanda instantly responded to the hypnometry impulses and entered the astral dimension. Experienced psychic that she was, she began to describe the extraphysical reality around them both immediately, and with great precision. Indeed, they soon discovered, it had been deployed easily and quickly. What if the result of that night could be replicated with even greater agility and profit? 2 Allan Kardec’s magnetic somnambulism, later also called projection of consciousness, found a swift and unsuspected vehicle in hypnometry. The Book of Spirits already informed us about the advantages of operating with unfolding sensitives. 3 Yolanda’s extraphysical clairvoyance also revealed, that night, the presence of spiritual guides with whom the couple was familiar. From then on, curiosity gained momentum and the inquiries began as well as the certainty that they were facing an unusual discovery — among other reasons because serious spirits do not lend themselves to domestic visits without a clear purpose. That chain of events was not fortuitous, the Azevedo couple would realize not much later. Lacerda learned that that resource was the key that unlocked a world of possibilities for Spiritist practice.
FROM PORTO ALEGRE TO BUENOS AIRES
Many years passed from that night until 1987, when the first edition of Spirit/matter: new horizons for medicine was published, a book that presents the foundations of apometry, enunciates its principles and the laws that govern it and brings case studies illustrative. 4 One of the most emblematic examples that the technique allowed us to unravel is the story of a very unusual obsession, both because the target was wasting away — and there are indications that he was even on the verge of schizophrenia when he sought help from Lacerda — and because the agent of the process was another incarnate, who did not even deliberately harm the victim. The service took place in Porto Alegre, however, it was at a distance, which in itself denotes one of the advantages offered by apometry.
The consultant, male, was 30 years old and lived in the Argentine capital, as narrated by Lacerda. After getting married, he periodically had a neurological condition similar to that of epileptic seizures, but more tenuous. Dizziness, prostration, headache, and vomiting, among other symptoms, accompanied the quarterly outbreaks, which, however, had already been less spaced over the three years of suffering. Once deployed, the mediums, who were then conducted using the apometric technique to the consultant’s residence, came across a man dejected and bedridden. They observed that something similar to scales involved his entire body, notably in the head region. Through the reporting of perceptions and the consequent operation of apometric commands, the mediums were able to carefully remove the layers of dense fluids with a scaly appearance. However, when they tried to trace the origin of those items, they could not identify any disembodied spirit, but a young woman about 10 km away, where she lived with her 4-year-old son. The magnetic emissions generated by her revealed a love affair with the consultant, years before, from which the child was the result. Even before her birth, however, he had abandoned her to marry another. Frustrated, she constantly radiated thoughts of longing and disappointment, which hit the man hard, even though she didn’t want to harm him. The astonishment of the mediums as to the terrifying effect of those emanations was satisfied by the spiritual team, which was soon able to clarify the history of the author of the process. In the remote past, she was initiated into magic and, as a priestess, gained extensive mental powers. when they tried to trace the origin of those items, they could not identify any disembodied spirit, but a young woman about 10 km away, where she lived with her 4-year-old son. The magnetic emissions generated by her revealed a love affair with the consultant, years before, from which the child was the result. Even before her birth, however, he had abandoned her to marry another. Frustrated, she constantly radiated thoughts of longing and disappointment, which hit the man hard, even though she didn’t want to harm him. The astonishment of the mediums as to the terrifying effect of those emanations was quenched by the spiritual team, which was soon able to clarify the story of the author of the process. In the remote past, she was initiated into magic and, as a priestess, gained extensive mental powers. when they tried to trace the origin of those items, they could not identify any disembodied spirit, but a young woman about 10 km away, where she lived with her 4-year-old son. The magnetic emissions generated by her revealed a love affair with the consultant, years before, from which the child was the result. Even before her birth, however, he had abandoned her to marry another. Frustrated, she constantly radiated thoughts of longing and disappointment, which hit the man hard, even though she didn’t want to harm him. The astonishment of the mediums as to the terrifying effect of those emanations was satisfied by the spiritual team, which was soon able to clarify the history of the author of the process. In the remote past, she was initiated into magic and, as a priestess, gained extensive mental powers.5
Apometry is a technique or a set of techniques whose application allows, above all and in general lines, to streamline mediumistic meetings with varied objectives.
FROM PORTO ALEGRE TO BRASÍLIA AND THEN TO BELO HORIZONTE
The above case can be read in the aforementioned book by Vitor Ronaldo Costa (1943–2015). An Air Force doctor, he lived in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre from 1973 onwards, during which time he was able to follow Lacerda’s work at Casa do Jardim, which at the time designated the Division of Psychic Research at HEPA.
Much later, already based in the federal capital, Vitor was responsible, on a physical level, for kick-starting the systematic adoption of the apometric technique at Casa de Everilda Batista, where I work. Since 2000, when he visited the spiritist center founded by Robson Pinheiro for a workshop, around 20 years have gone by, during which time I remain at the forefront of meetings in which we use this very valuable tool, apometry. There were countless cases treated, going through the range of pathologies described by Lacerda, from parasitic apparatus syndrome to vibratory resonance with the past, just to mention the best known.
In the free mini-course Initiation to Apometria, Robson and I shared a little of the experience accumulated in the consultations and in the operation of Apometria, within the scope of both mediumistic practice and therapeutic practice, in his case, where he explores certain applications of Apometry as a technique of magnetism. We hope, he and I, that the content will be useful to you.
Good studies!
Leonardo Möller, operator and coordinator in apometry meetings for about 20 years
[1] Cf. “My initiation into spiritism”. In: KARDEC, Allan. Posthumous works. Organization by PG Leymarie. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2009. p. 345-353 (2nd part).
[2] Cf. COSTA, Vitor Ronaldo. Apometry: new horizons of spiritual medicine. Matão: O Clarim, 1997. p. 20-22.
[3] Cf. “Theoretical summary of somnambulism, ecstasy, and second sight”. In: KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits. 2nd. ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2011. p. 316-322, item 455.
[4] Cf. AZEVEDO, Jose Lacerda. Spirit/matter: new horizons for medicine. 9th. ed. Porto Alegre: Casa do Jardim, 2007.
[5] Cf. COAST. Op. cit. P. 143-148.
