Some have told me that spiritism and spiritualism are two different things. I was under the impression that they both meant the same. I shall be very glad if you will tell me through the Private Corner which is correct.
Practically, there is no difference, both words being used with reference to belief in communication with spirits of dead people.
It is true that the primary idea of the word "spiritualism," is the state of being spiritual; but its most common use is to indicate dealings with spirits. Indeed, it is very rarely used to indicate a condition of spirituality, while it is used almost to the exclusion of "Spiritism," as the name of a false religion.
For a man who repudiates professed dealings with the dead to declare himself a spiritualist would almost invariably be understood as meaning that he believed in communication with spirits.
Of course we understand that there is really no such thing as communication with the dead, but that it is the spirits of demons who deceive people with that notion.--Present Truth, November 7, 1901.