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.

Out With The Old, In With The New ( 2008 )

Spiritualism and other organisations which support this belief system have undergone a dramatic change during the last seventy years, since the like of Estelle Roberts, Leslie Flint and other historically gifted Mediums frequented the spiritualist platform.

Though the seven principles of spiritualism remain the core belief system within today’s Spiritualist movement, the values and standards of mediumship that were once witnessed within the spiritualist movement have changed so much that it would be improbable that a Medium or any other member of the public of yesteryear would identify with the trends of contemporary Spiritualism.

Let me substantiate this in a little more detail. Today's spiritualist’ service has remained relatively intact over the years. That is to say the usual order of service is approached with prayer followed by a reading and then an address by the Medium or speaker. This in turn is succeeded by more prayers and finally, the manifestation of mediumship that almost everyone has been eagerly anticipating from the outset.

However there is a growing number of people who have taken matters into there own hands in respect of the church service. They are the individuals who arrive late for the spiritualist services and in some cases, so late that almost 45 minutes of the service is conveniently excluded in favour of a 15 minute demonstration of mediumship. This behaviour on the part of congregation members is obviously registered with the committee members, but in spite of this, little if anything is ever addressed to rectify the position. Instead committee members tolerate this behaviour to the point of acceptance and treat it as the norm.

As far as I can see there is no official ruling that dictates the nature and order of the typical spiritualist service’ nor does it decree how officials of each church should conduct their services because how it is conducted is really a matter of choice and style, so long as certain standards are maintained.

Church officials are therefore given a free hand to conduct the service in a way which is deemed fit .

Is it therefore possible that the church service as a whole, which includes mediumship standards have declined so much and have become so uninspiring that many individuals feel the need to either ostracise the service or at least only attend the parts of the service that are of interest ?
The fact remains that church officials seem powerless or unwilling to counter the problem of certain behaviour and standards of service. This in turn only serves to compound the problem and enforces the poor image that many people hold about Spiritualism.

Any forward thinking person and anyone with an ounce of concern who holds a position of authority clearly has the mandate to reverse this trend by investigating he reasons why it is happening and addressing the problem. After all, the good businessman has need to change and keep abreast with market trends if he is to remain successful in his business. Likewise, church officials need to adopt a similar approach if they are to avoid empty churches.

At this time I see no positive steps being taken to reverse this worrying trend.

Once again we are faced with church officials who prefer to avoid confrontation and change and instead, have chosen to take a slice of lemon cake washed down with weak milky tea whilst they stare and drift aimlessly into the abyss.