Credible Mediumship

Acceptable and credible evidence of life after death is often muddled and confusing. The solution to this dilemma is best explained in the following way:

Acceptable and credible evidence of life after death is 'intelligence' from spirit communicators that will hold up to scrutiny and prove beyond reasonable doubt, the existence of the spirit communicator.

Direct Voice:

A means of producing and hearing discarnate souls within a controlled environment. Documented evidence suggests how witnesses are able to claim and accept 'spirit' voices; by means of the characteristic tone, style, 'live' conversations and evidential information projected by the 'spirit' voice. This exceptional communication technique is thought to be infrequent and when investigated has baffled many scientists and psychic researchers alike. Two famous Mediums that have been identified with 'direct voice' are Estelle Roberts and Leslie Flint. Roberts has been known to communicate in foreign languages, including Dutch, a language that was beyond her grasp. Scientists have extensively investigated Flint. One scientific report concluded that an 'unknown force' was operating through him.

Materialisation:

The physical form of phenomena known as materialisation is the utilisation of human energy by spirit forces, for the purpose of controlling physical movement. For example, in documented cases, eyewitnesses have reported seeing the movement of tables, chairs and small objects in a controlled atmosphere. In other examples, eyewitnesses have identified three - dimensional images of ‘dead’ relatives and friends. The conversion of human energy into a spirit force has been conveniently called ectoplasm. This process is not obviously understood; however, the resultant process is powerful enough to move objects and the spirit 'material' can become tangible to humans.

Spirit photography:

Ectoplasmic objects can be photographed under appropriate conditions. Moving and still images of spirit forces have produced an array of spirit evidence.

Psychic art:

Some Mediums are able to draw images of ‘dead’ people. Consequently, eyewitnesses can positively identify friends and relatives. This source of evidence can hold up to rigorous scrutiny and may produce reliable evidence.

Trance-mediumship:

This form of spirit communication is uncommon today, and when witnessed, can be branded as tomfoolery on the part of the Medium. Scientists, doctors and even some priests regard the idea of a spirit force, taking control of a human in a possessive action as comical. Be that as it may, eyewitnesses have been astounded by the brut-force of the 'possession'. Accounts of remarkable philosophy and knowledge have been observed and when likened with the same 'dispossessed' Medium, has proven impossible to replicate the same comprehension and intellect that was demonstrated during the 'possession'. One famous Trance Medium known today is Colin Fry.

Mental phenomena:

This is by far the most popular form of 'spirit contact' today, whereby the Medium communicates with the 'spirit' on a non-physical level and passes the information on to the third person for which the information is intended. Mental phenomena have been subjected to condemnation in recent years inasmuch as the standards of mediumship have declined. However, this process cannot be dismissed entirely in view of the fact that some spirit links can be highly evidential. For example, obscure information, unusual names and addresses which all inter-link. Excellent memory links and accurate descriptions of ‘dead’ associates may be convincing enough to hold up to scrutiny and prove beyond reasonable doubt, the existence of the spirit communicator.

This is by far the most popular form of 'spirit contact' today, whereby the Medium communicates with the 'spirit' on a non-physical level and passes the information on to the third person for which the information is intended. Mental phenomena have been subjected to condemnation in recent years inasmuch as the standards of mediumship have declined. However, this process cannot be dismissed entirely in view of the fact that some spirit links can be highly evidential. For example, obscure information, unusual names and addresses which all inter-link. Excellent memory links and accurate descriptions of ‘dead’ associates may be convincing enough to hold up to scrutiny and prove beyond reasonable doubt, the existence of the spirit communicator.

Mugged by a Medium, by Victor Olliver

You don't expect to be mugged in a place of religious practice or contemplation. Especially not at the premises of the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain, set amid the standard piste-white of London Belgravia's many CCTV-protected embassies. No one karate-chopped me and made off with my wallet. And the SAGB itself wasn't to blame.

But I was taken for a mug, by a fraudulent medium and her 3,000-year-old "spirit guide", and left £45 the poorer.

So this is what happened

On a whim I'd copped off work and decided to attend one of the SAGB's weekday afternoon demonstrations of clairvoyance. I can't remember the name of the guest medium but the chairperson sticks in my mind, a theatrical man draped in long silky robes, his head crowned with a fez. Sort of Lawrence of Arabia meets Tommy Cooper.

A small congregation had assembled in the pretty ground floor chapel: a medley of tourists, mother-daughter couples, lone males at the sides and back, a lone American woman (who'd laden the two chairs flanking her with bags and books) and two extremely old, chicly dressed Arab women at the front in their silky Hermes scarves (perhaps slumming it after cappuccinos at Harrods, just round the corner). In fairness, the guest medium's messages were "evidential" - that is to say, she received positive responses from the individuals she came to with memories from the other side. This is not always the case. Today, the medium was on a roll. She was a feisty one, brisk and light-hearted, not shy to pass on some sharp criticism from astral loved-ones. Such mediums give Spiritualism a good name in that it is not easy to dismiss what they say as generalisation or body reading.

Then she came to me. She said a lot, some of it evidential, but in essence her message was "pull your socks up". I could live with that. It was fair given the personal detail she came up with. But once the demonstration was over a woman in the congregation approached me with a distressed look on her face. "Oh you poor thing," she said, gently gripping my arm and establishing instant eye contact. "I thought she [the guest medium] was a bit harsh on you. There's much more I could tell you that's positive. I can see, you see. I'm a medium, too."Perhaps I was feeling vulnerable but her psychic pity found its audience. I instantly felt that here was a person who might dish up some reassurance - from an authentic source of course. She gave me her name (let's call her Susie), she described herself as a trance medium and she had things to tell me that I would find constructive. Not like that nasty harridan on the stage. Would I like a "consultation"? We exchanged telephone numbers. And a few days later I made an appointment to see this woman at her home.

About a fortnight later I rang the door to a flat in north London. She led me through a dingy corridor to her "studio". My instincts were on alert the moment she locked the door behind me and hid away the key. My instant thought was: what if I wanted to leave now, would she let me?

She sat me down in an armchair in front of her queen-sized double bed and she took a standing position by the fireplace. Susie began by telling me how the spirit world had first come knocking in her life years back. One night she'd awoken in her sheets to find her bed on fire. She did not say what caused the fire; nor did I ask. Once she'd doused the flames (presumably with water) she formed the idea that the spirit world had rescued her by waking her up in good time and saving her from an untimely roasting.

That was the sign; she had been "called". Since then she'd practised - or at least, advertised herself - as a medium.

Now she explained how she worked. Shortly, she said, she would pass into trance and her "3,000-year-old" male Chinese spirit guide (let's call him Mr Yao) would take her over. I was to remain calm and simply respond to any questions he might ask. Then she closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply and rhythmically - after a minute or so she emitted a curious sound: "Ahhhhhhhhhhh.""Ahhhhhhhhh, I am Mr Yao, please to stay calm…" These were the first words spoken by the Oriental spirit guide. Her voice had dropped an octave or two. "You old soul yourself," he continued, sounding not unlike Christopher Lee's fiendish Dr Fu Manchu . "Instrument (he meant Susie) cannot know what I will tell you …"

In fact he was to tell me nothing I couldn't have read in a book. Instead he launched into a long lecture on reincarnation and the laws of cause and effect. All the while Susie's eyes remained shut. After about 20 minutes of this, Mr Yao was interrupted to my relief - by the telephone ringing on an adjacent side table.

"Should I answer it?" I asked. Susie looked a little perplexed. Eyes stayed shut. "It will stop ringing," replied Mr Yao, betraying a surprising familiarity with modern communication devices for a 3,000-year-old soul. But it did not stop ringing so I picked it up.

"Hello," I began."Who is this?" barked the caller, a man."Um, er, I am having a sitting with Susie.""A what?""A sitting. Er, may I ask who is calling?""What? Is she there? A sitting?""She is in a trance …""Oh my God! Not that nonsense again. Put her on the phone now - this is her father!"
I placed a hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to Susie/Mr Yao: "It's your father - he sounds rather cross."

"Oh, uh, er …" For a moment Susie/Mr Yao didn't seem to know what to do. "Ahhhhhhhh," began Mr Yao, "please to tell caller that instrument is in trance."

I replied, "I have told Susie's father she's in a trance - I think you should talk to him."
At this Susie's eyes shot open and she silently took the phone from my hand. "Ahhhhh, this is Mr Yao," she said still in Oriental character, "instrument is in trance but she will call you back moment she returns." And then Mr Yao replaced the receiver. I'd heard garbled angry noises at the other end of the line.

Susie shut her eyes again and Mr Yao gave me a faint smile before continuing for another 10 minutes on the theme of reincarnation. "You have questions?" he asked me at the end. "No, no," I said, "I have to go, it's all been very interesting." Mr Yao wished me a happy life and on that cue Susie regained control of her vocal cords and her modulated London accent.

Indeed her eyes may well have opened to the sight of my fishing out the cash from my wallet. She did not appear embarrassed or in anyway offended by my obvious rush to get away - I did however mention en passant that her father had called. "Oh really," she said distractedly.

Now, you may wonder why I paid the £45 to such an obvious con. Am I a man or a mouse? Surely I could have simply insisted she unlock the door and let me out. Or even called the police. But it did occur to me, as she babbled on as Mr Yao, that she might accuse me of all sorts of things if the cops were called - such a delusional and dishonest person might be capable of any concoction. It felt safer just to cough up - and swallow my medicine, as it were.

Because in the end it was my fault that had I found myself in that low-rent bed-sit. I'd allowed myself to be hoodwinked for "reassurance" and "comfort". I didn't ask myself why a person would solicit my custom in a place of worship for personal gain, playing all the while on some perceived vulnerability in me.

So I decided I would "fine" myself £45. That sum was self-punishment for being such a clot."Susie" still advertises herself as a medium/counsellor/whatever in the back ads of the psychic press. You might say it's my public duty to name and shame her. You maybe right. But for the moment I am happy to name and shame myself.

Published by www.spiritvoice.biz/ with kind permission from Victor Olliver - Teletext.

A Sunday in Southampton

My visit to a Sunday service at Southampton-Bitterne spiritualist church just before Christmas has proved to be another useful reminder to me that the typical Sunday service at any spiritualist church has not changed by one iota during the last ten- years. I could be forgiven by some people for believing that I had just attended a service from 1998, the year I resigned my Vice-presdendancy and SNU ‘B’ status of the spiritualists’ union. It was also the year I last chaired a spiritualist meeting in my official capacity.

Why should it change you may ask ?

Bitterne Spiritualist church is enchanting in every way. The church sits on high ground overlooking several views of Southampton City. During my visit to the church, the officials were welcoming and friendly. The atmosphere was inviting and cosy in every sense and above the platform within the church loomed a banner stating...... ‘60 years of spiritualism’

The service was shepherded in the usual pattern as I recall from my previous brushes with spiritualist churches. In other words, A loudly sung Christian hymn followed by prayer and a reading. This was followed by more Christian hymns followed by the address and even more Christian hymns and finally, the short slot of time at the end which is normally set aside for clairvoyance lasted approximately 15 minutes ( less than 15% of the time allocated to the service in total ). The Medium, a somewhat banal character, appeared to have consumed more than her fair-share of sherry during the eating of mince-pies prior to the service.

As I sat in the congregation altogether wearied, I tried to focus on the typical attendee and understand why some people in the congregation have probably attended the church since the doors opened in 1948. It dawned on me that many people were delighted to be here in Bittern on a weekly basis to experience the general atmosphere and the cosiness which was truly inviting and tranquil.

Not withstanding the short session at the end of the service where the Medium attempted to join with the Spirit World but in my opinion, failed to bring any real communication from loved ones in spirit, I concluded that the service I attended was not dissimilar to a Christian gathering. I did not regret coming here but I did wonder why I spent money getting here when I could have attended the Christian service at St Peters in Fareham.