Back when Ronald Reagan was president, the news media was all ago over the revelation that Nancy Reagan had consulted an astrologer.  The "news" media picked up the story and ran with it because there were still some "useful idiots" in the media that really thought Reagan was a genuine conservative, and they saw the story as a chance to get their licks in at him.  Christians and conservatives were not happy about the revelation.  It was, after all, their lack of discernment that helped put Reagan in the White House, and they proceeded to compound their error with George Bush in the next election.

However, for those who take the trouble to read history, this sort of thing is really nothing new.  It has gone on for  long time.  Mary Todd Lincoln had problems in the same area, which most contemporary "historians" will not bother to mention.  According to several sources, Mrs. Lincoln was emotionally unstable at times.  When her son, Willie, died, she struggled with that loss for several years and got to the point  where she started visiting spiritualists in a futile effort to contact her dead son. 

In his book, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin P. Thomas records a friend of the Lincoln's writing the following:  "Mrs Lincoln told me that she had been, the night before...out to Georgetown, to see a Mrs. Laury, a spiritualist and she had made wonderful revelations to her about her little son Willie.... Among other things she revealed that the cabinet were all enemies of the President, working for themselves, and that they would have to be dismissed and other called to his aid before he had success."  Subsequent historical events do make you wonder just where Mrs. Laury got some of her information!  Another writer made brief reference to Mrs Lincoln's problem when he wrote:  "the loss of the idolized Willie deeply disturbed her and she refused to enter the rooms in which he had died and been embalmed.  She even held at least one seance in the White House to try to make contact with his departed soul."

The Civil War Times Illustrated magazine published an article in August of 1976 by Peggy Robbins entitled "The Lincolns and Spiritualism."  Robbins confirmed the fact that spiritualism began to gain a foothold in the United States in 1848 --the same year that socialist revolutions swept Europe--revolutions that Mr. Lincoln was strongly in favor of!

Robbins reported that during 1862, Mrs. Lincoln was involved with a number of mediums, some of whom were just out and out fakes.  Historians have disagreed as to whether Lincoln, himself, believed in spiritualism, because, pragmatic politician that he was, he never gave any who inquired into his beliefs on this any kind of straight answer.  However, in 1861, he did listen to a "lengthy dissertation on spiritualism" given by none other than Robert Dale Owen the socialist.  This is the same Robert Dale Owen that later gave radical Thaddeus Stevens so much input into the drafting of the infamous 14th Amendment to the constitution. 

Robbins article listed Owen as a "distinguished author."  In all that I have read about Mr. Owen, all that I can find to distinguish him is his commitment to the promotion of socialism and other radical  causes.  However, he does seem to have had contact with the movers and shakers in Washington and he had a commitment to statist (government) control of the educational process.  One might be more than a little curious as to how much influence Owen's socialism had on the administration in Washington.

Robbins said there is ample proof that Lincoln did attend a number of seances, but "...it may be he did so not as a believer but as a detached observer, there to look after his emotionally overwrought wife." Robbins mentioned Lincoln having a curiosity about the supernatural because he tended toward superstition, and "...had long been subject to dreams, visions, and premonitions."

One spiritualist the Lincolns received at the White House was a Lord Colchester.  It seems he was allowed to hold several seances on the premises.  However, it was reported that Lord Colchester's reputation was somewhat suspect, and a friend of the Lincolns, Noah Brooks, suggested to him, rather bluntly, that he pack up his gear and move on to less controversial pastures.

During the latter part of 1862, Mrs Lincoln attended several seances held by a Netti Colburn.  In order to keep Miss Colburn close to Washington, Mrs. Lincoln managed to get her a position in the Interior Department.  Ah, patronage! Colburn held a seance in the White House in December of 1862. 

Robbins noted in her article that: "Famous psychic investigator A. Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, termed this, the first of a number of meetings between Nettie Colburn and President Lincoln, 'one of the most important events in the history of spiritualism'."

One seance held in the White House in April, 1863, was attended by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells.  Some of these sessions were reported in the newspapers but, oddly enough, Lincoln was never criticized for them.

We do need to reflect a bit at this point.  If Abraham Lincoln were a Christian, as some have repeatedly tried to convince us of over the years, why would he have allowed either his wife or himself to be drawn into such activity?  One can certainly sympathize with Mrs. Lincoln over the loss of her son, as can one with any mother over such a loss.  Might we not wonder, though, if Mr. Lincoln were the believing Christian some have alleged he is, would he not have sought some sort of biblical counsel and comfort for his wife, rather than allowing her to indulge in Scripturally forbidden spiritualism, and then going along for the ride himself?

This has been written to point out that our problems in this country began a lot earlier than most people wish to realize.  it proves that this country, having abandoned its Reformation foundations, had widely turned to apostasy by the time of the War for Southern Independence, which ended up being the real American Revolution.  Apostasy was rampant, mostly in the North, from the highest echelons to the lowest stations in society.  Many have questioned, and I think properly, whether we ever really turned from that apostasy, in spite of all the so-called "revivals" since the War for southern Independence ended.  In my opinion, we have not.  Until we do turn from it and turn back to the God of the Scriptures this country will continue its downward spiral.

Abraham Lincoln--A Biography 
by Benjamin P. Thomas 
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, copyright 1952

The Lincolns and Spiritualism
by Peggy Robbins 
Civil War Times Illustrated, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
August 1976

Lincoln and The Emperors 
by A.R.Tyrner-Tyrauer
Harcort, Brace & World Inc., New York, copyright 1962

Lincoln's Herndon--A Biography 
by David Herbert Donald 
Alfred A. Knopf, copyright 1948

Mary Todd Lincoln --Her Life and Letters
by Justin G. Turner & Linda Levitt Turner 
From International Publishing Corp., New York,
copyright 1972