Beacons that light the way

January 23rd, 2010

I’ve been writing a book on mediumship.  It’s been near to final stages for a while now, as I have been waiting for it to pass my most stringent editor, my wife, who is not only knowledgeable in the subject, but a very critical reader.  We’ve gone back and forth over a number of points in the book, some of which become passionate discussions.  I wouldn’t call them heated arguments, but they were close.

I gave her another iteration of the book this week, and it finally passed her scrutiny. There are some very-very minor edits left over, but that’s about it.  Now I can move on and have others review it.

It’s a big relief for me.  It took ten years to get to this point.  Time spent writing, letting it sit for months or more, thinking through the material, then editing, and letting it sit again.  Like wine, it has been aging and changing over time.  Now it’s ready to move forward in the process.

On the very same day, I went to a seminar involving Egyptian spirituality.  It was interesting.  When I got back home, I sat down to my computer as usual, and the screen saver was a pyramid with the keystone separated from the base, with an eye in it – like on the back of the American dollar bill.  My screen saver has a few hundred different items in it, and it’s rare to see the same item twice.  On top of that, I had finished reading Dan Brown’s book, The Lost Symbol, just a few days before, which makes it all the more interesting.

I appreciate these indicators from the spirits.  I like to think of them as beacons that help to guide and direct you, perhaps like the ones here.

Noches doradas

Noches doradas by Amir K. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/childofwar/)

Bookmark and Share

Stop the bus

January 2nd, 2010

It’s not unusual for photographers run into spiritual phenomena via their photography.  Bruce Brigham did exactly that when he photoed a site for his book on abandoned houses in Ontario, Canada and discovered a spirit person beyond a bus on the property.  Afterward, he went to a psychic who provided factually correct information about the spirit.

Bookmark and Share

No speeding

January 2nd, 2010

Here is an article about a medium in Australia, but what I found most interesting in it was some things medium James Van Praagh said about communication.  Sometimes when you’re doing message work, you’d like to get more information faster, or better information.  For the most part, it doesn’t work that way. What comes, comes, at the rate that it comes.  You can ask questions to some extent, and it sometimes helps, but that’s about it.

Bookmark and Share

Update on who’s believing what

December 20th, 2009

An article came out in USA Today about a study done on what religions people are subscribing to, how often they’re going, and the like.  It seems that people are becoming more eclectic in their beliefs, and combining various beliefs and religions.

It’s interesting that a leading voice for orthodox Baptists says that people are just rampantly confused, and adopting a belief-du-jour system.  This reminds me of the record companies who are staunchly holding onto their traditional business models while the world is changing before their very eyes. Or any one of the multitude of companies who are hanging onto old market approaches and ignoring the brand new Internet-based world of marketing and selling.

But, be that as it may, there are some interesting findings in the article, such as devotion to one clear faith is fading, and “Of the 72% of Americans who attend religious services at least once a year (excluding holidays, weddings and funerals), 35% say they attend in multiple places, often hop-scotching across denominations.”

You may want to read Ellen Ratner’s response article as well.  She says this type of thing has been going on a lot longer than people think, and brings up some of the religious happenings back in the late 1800’s.

I feel like that time period was not only the birth of Modern Spiritualism, but something of a golden age.  Reading about it leaves me wistfully thinking about what it was like to have so much public interest at the time.  Must have been nice.  Too bad we don’t have it now.

Bookmark and Share

Seeking the spiritual golden snitch

December 12th, 2009

Somewhat like the seeker in Harry Potter’s game of Quidditch, a seeker is any person who is looking for something from the spirits, most commonly in the form of a message or reading.  Here is a nice little article about how you as a seeker should approach a reading.   It refers to readings by phone, but it essentially applies to any type of reading.  Some of it applies to messages as well.

Bookmark and Share

Seasons in the Sun

December 4th, 2009

Sometime in the last week or so, I kept getting the Terry Jacks song Seasons in the Sun in my head. Then my Dad called me a couple days ago and said that a friend of the family that we haven’t talked to in a very long time and now lives in another state was suddenly in hospice with cancer. Yesterday morning, I woke up with the song again. That evening, he called again and said she passed away in the afternoon.  The song came from the spirit folks, but I think she would have liked it.

There are instances where death is good, to an extent.  In her case, it lessened her suffering.  It also caused a husband and son to talk after eight years of silence.  Perhaps more good will come of it, but nonetheless, it is still sad.

People on the Earth plane die every minute of every day.  Intellectually, we know this, but emotionally, we ignore it.  We have to in order to get on with life.  It’s part of how things work.   But death has an important role to play.  Existence is larger than a single life, and death is a marker between one life and the next.  Death is also a very strong reminder to live your life as best as you can.  It is a reminder that what you do with your life, while you have it, is important.

Bookmark and Share

Medium’s Thanksgiving

November 26th, 2009

From a mediumship perspective, here are some things I’m thankful for on Thanksgiving:

1. The presence of God in my life.  That presence that lets me know that life is a forward and uplifting progression towards goodness and spirituality, even when it does not feel that way in a particular moment.

2. The Very Important People (VIPs) in my life.  My wife, children, parents, family, friends.  Strictly speaking, they are largely unrelated to mediumship, but nonetheless, they are very important.  Experiences with them through time have taught me valuable lessons about life, love, and spirituality, which are important ingredients in mediumship.

3.  Assistance from my spirit folks.  They have provided guidance, assurance, and the butt-kicking (when necessary) to help me progress in life.

4. Communication with my spirit folks.  We work together to communicate better and better through mediumship.  I am thankful that they listen to what I have to say, and are willing to work with me.

5. The trust that I’ve developed with my spirit folks.  Building trust involves a lot of work, patience, and desire.  It requires a lot of investment from their side.  And it’s a choice on their part, not a given.  I am grateful that were willing, and appreciate the positive effects of it that show up in my mediumship and in my life.

6. The good works that I’ve been involved with via mediumship.  Healing.  Message work.  Readings.  Writing.  Channeling.  Spirit removal (Ghostbusting).  Guiding and teaching others.  All of these are rooted in goodness, are satisfying to be involved in, and are tightly integrated with the spirits – both my folks and others.

7. My dreamwork.  My dreams are very vivid, and the spirits often use my dream time to take me places, show me things, and teach me things.

8. That I live in a country where mediumship is no longer persecuted.  I am thankful that I do not live in fear of being burned at the stake.

9. That I am a medium.  While one can certainly get along in life without mediumship, I wouldn’t want to.  Mediumship has a mystery and beauty all its own, and I am thankful that it has a presence and a large role in my life.

10. For the people I have met and worked with along the way.  I have learned so many things from my peers in classes.  As time passes, some of them go different ways, and I probably won’t see them again while I’m still here on the Earth plane, but they will always have their special places in my heart.

11. For the future.  Despite what people say about psychics and mediums predicting the future, the future is, by and large, unwritten.  I rather like it that way.  Even without knowing what will happen next, I am sure that the future will involve goodness, spirituality, and mediumship, and for this, I am thankful.

Bookmark and Share

John Edward in South Africa

November 21st, 2009

I would say that this article is more about what John Edward is up to in South Africa, rather than whether he’s real or not.  But anyhow, you will get a slice of his experience as a public figure medium, and what it is like to deal with TV producers .

Bookmark and Share

Religious respect on the job

November 19th, 2009

Here’s quick and interesting read: a Spiritualist police trainer in the UK lost his job over his religion, but won a ruling on it.

The article goes on to say that Spiritualism is the 8th largest religion in the UK, with 32,000 adherents (based on 2001 data).  Not bad!

Bookmark and Share

Mediumship, credits, and debits

November 15th, 2009

I previously blogged about  the UK’s television medium Derek Acorah, who was going to hold a televised séance to try to reach Michael Jackson. It aired on November 9th.  The feedback I found around and about the Internet was less than positive, and here’s a short segment of the show on youtube.  Acorah responded to his critics, saying he conducted the séance “in the most honest, truthful way.”

My view is that I have little to say about it.  I know I wouldn’t have done the séance, at least not on television.  And I won’t judge Acorah’s authenticity or lack thereof.

But I will say that nothing outrages a medium more than a faker.  I absolutely hate it.  Fakery brings down the legitimacy of what everyone else in the mediumship community is doing.  It’s vile and unethical.  It’s playing dangerous mind games with people.  It’s an open opportunity for the cynics to rip mediumship apart, and do so legitimately.  It’s many things, all of which are bad.

But no matter.  The Law of Cause and Effect is a good bookkeeper.  If you acquire credits on your books through unethical means, you will receive a corresponding debit to your account.  It may happen sooner, or maybe later, but either way, the books will be balanced.

I hope that Acorah is legitmate, for his sake, and the sake of anyone else he has affected through his mediumship.

Bookmark and Share