Tom – Page 10 – Tom Johnston

First Impression of a Spiritual Service…A Psychic Investigation… Spirit of PN…

The 23rd of October saw me heading north to the Stirling Spiritualist Church SNU. This is a busy church with their own premises and right in the centre of town.

The 24th saw me going in the opposite direction to the Cumnock Spiritualist Spiritual Centre. A very special little lad was in the congregation. Jack is only a few months old and is son of President/ Spiritual Medium Jackie Cree and her husband Iain. I know I have said this before but it is good to see Spiritualism has spread down into the southern parts of Ayrshire in the past few years, with the opening of Cumnock and Catrine. North and central Ayrshire has had a long tradition as far as Spiritualism is concerned but for some reason it took much longer for us to have bases in the southern parts of the county…

25th…I was away on research work, more about that later

26th… It was once again a pleasure to be asked to take Development Circle at the Love and Friendship Spiritualist Church in Glasgow. There is a lot of talent in this circle which is being given time to mature slowly.

27th…. The Pyramid Spiritualist Church in Pollock was the venue. Jean, Sarah and Isobel are always around to make everyone feel welcome. This church has had to change its evening for the service three times this year. It started off on a Friday then moved to a Sunday but the service from now on will take place on a Thursday evening. If you have friends in the area you could let them know of the change.

29th… I took part in the Ayrshire Cancer Support’s Open Day in Kilmarnock. There was a good turnout even though there was heavy rain for most of the day.

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I am always interested in what those from other religions think of our Spiritual services. Within the past month I have had two interesting comments from a lady who has been heavily involved with one of the mainstream religions for almost sixty years.

I was surprised when she asked for the address of a Spiritualist Church for her to attend. I suggested that she try two churches, one with its own premises and the other in a small local community centre.

Her comments after the first service was; –

“I was really impressed by the two hymns that were sung and the other song. The two hymns were very uplifting made me feel happy. Our hymns are usually rather dull. Actually I did not pay much attention to the sermon nor the clairvoyance as I was looking through the hymn book.

That other song was in the Top-10 a hit a few years back and it would never been sung in our church, but the words are so spiritual. I have listened to so often but never paid too much attention to the words until the service”

So to this lady on her first visit to one of our churches, the clairvoyance, the medium nor our philosophy was what drew her attention, it was the cheery uplifting hymns and on occasions we are willing to go outside the hymn book for a modern song with a spiritual meaning.

My next blog will tell of what her topic of conversation was after a second visit to one of our churches...

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Last week I was asked if I would like to attend a house where I thought Spirit had been detected, but this was not the case. In fact all the information concerning this visit turned out to be inaccurate, but not intentionally.

A family had wanted a psychic researcher to be present when a room in the basement of their large house was opened for the first time in 60/70 years. The information the family had was that an elderly relative had passed over in this room and immediately after the body had been removed, the door was locked and had never had been opened since.

After reading one of those wild and woolly supernatural magazines one of the younger members of the family got it into her head that their relative may be roaming around the locked room for all those years. In fact not “may”, be roaming round the room, but “was”, because of strange noises coming from the room. It turned out that these strange noises were only heard after the young girl read her magazine. I tried my best not to judge but it was hard not to think that the strange noises were just in the head of an impressionable young lady.

We thought the mission was going to have to be aborted before it had even begun. The lock on the door had seized up and it took many squirts of WD40 and some twenty minutes before we managed to open the door.

What a surprise we all got when the door was opened. The family believed that the room had been left the way it was when the old soul passed away, but it was completely empty, apart from a small pink stone that had probably come off a piece of paste jewellery. I stayed in the room for around thirty minutes and I was not aware in any way of Spirit presence, much to the disappointment of the family. But I was aware of the dust which started off my asthma.

I tried to explain to the family that there was no reason for the old lady’s spirit to remain in the room. She would have moved over to the Spirit World to be with her family and friends. The media has seemed to convince so many that Spirit is roaming around in an unhappy state, especially in old buildings.

Memories can be mistaken for Spirit but I did not detect anything like that either. But there may still be something comes out of the visit. I took the small stone found in the room. and will use it in a psychometry test. . It will be interesting to see if that reveals anything.

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Those who miss the Psychic News will be delighted to hear that there is no death as far as the psychic newspaper is concerned and that we will be able to get national and world news on Spiritualism through the “Spirit of PN”. I am having a bit of a problem with the email address but if you put “Spirit of PN” into a search engine you will get the information of this new venture in full.

I was shocked that the demise of the Psychic News was handled not only in such an unprofessional way, in a way that does no credit to Spiritualism.

Do many Spiritualists actually stop for a moment and consider the Spirit World’s thoughts on many matters concerning our religion? We are becoming more and more like other religions by forgetting the true meaning of what we are all about.

Seeking the Truth… Harrowing Viewing…SNU Changes….From the Past…The Horror of Drugs…Book Review…

Diary…

9th October…. It was a pleasure as always to take the Service at Largs Spiritualist Church. This is the only church that I serve which has a Sunday afternoon service. Always a busy church with a dedicated committee.

10th…. No churches but a busy time seeing three families who had contacted Spiritualist Churches. This is an area where I feel is neglected and something we should be looking into.

11th October… I attended the Falkirk Spiritualist Church (SNU) a church as I have mentioned before with its own premises which is in use most days of the week.

12th October… Heading west this time to the White Rose Spiritualist Church in Gourock. It always seems to be raining when I am in Gourock.

16th saw me at the Ayr Spiritualist Centre. Lovely decor and always such a loving and friendly atmosphere.

17th… A break from Spiritualism and my research I attended Airdrie library for a talk by ex MP/MSP Dennis Canavan about his first venture into writing “let The People Decide”.

19th… Taking a meditation class.

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Seeking the Truth…

One of the first emails I got on this website was from a lady asking the following; –

“What advice do you give to anyone going into a Spiritualist Church for the first time?”… Mavis…

“I replied; –

“Have an open mind, common sense and maybe do a little bit of research
afterwards”.

Back came the comment; –

“I thought you would have said a massive amount of active imagine HA HA”… Mavis

I thought that would be the end of that contact but Mavis did reply a few months later and I was really interested in her comments.

“Did eventually go to a Spiritualist Church and I got a message from the medium. It was only 10% accurate and if it had not been for the connection with the three parts I could accept I would have dismissed it all as a load of nonsense.

The medium mentioned two names at the same time, John and Gilbert. John is a common name but the same cannot be said about Gilbert. I had two uncles who were very close called John and Gilbert and they passed when I was young

Also from the platform I was given that one of these men was born with some form of deformity, my Uncle Gilbert was born with one leg shorter than the other.

Probably just a coincidence as I could not accept the other 90% of the message I suppose the John, Gilbert and the deformity was really only three coincidences one after another”.

I suggested that even though she was confident that she could not accept any more of what she had been given, she should do a little bit research into her two uncles and what was going on around the family where they were here. She did and this is where a few interesting facts started to unfold.

“Connections with a gamekeeper”… No gamekeeper in the family that she could find. …But… these two uncles along with their brothers and other children of the area acted as beaters in the local estate during the shooting season. Even a few comments from older members of the family about poaching but we will not venture there.

“Connections with Australia and New Zealand”… She thought she had heard of a family member who had immigrated to Canada. But no living family member had heard of the “Canadian connection”. But in the back of their minds they had heard of family connections in New Zealand and Australia. Mavis was beginning to enjoy this investigation and on facebook she has traced a member of her family in New Zealand.

So do we have to research every message? No, but when one gets a message they should think it over for few days. What they could not accept, something might come to mind that later on other parts of the message could be accepted.

Also with a message you can accept at the time, think it over for a few days as there may be much more you can take out of it than you originally thought.

Back to Mavis for a moment…

Would the two uncles have come forward and gave the information that they gave if Mavis was not the type of person who does not like to let things lie? Mavis has always wanted to look into the family tree and spend time doing a little research into things that interested her, the message finally kick-started her into action.

In the past two weeks I have received another email from Mavis.

“A knee problem that I have had for many years is getting worse and it has started to curtail some of my activities. I wonder if this is another reason Gilbert came forward as he had a leg problem since birth and yet he never lay down to it, he worked hard all his working life?”

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Harrowing Viewing…

My TV viewing last week was gruesome to say the least….

Three BBC’s Panorama programmes “The Secret Lives of Britain’s Child Beggars”, “The Rise in Child Sacrifice in Uganda” and “Atrocities in Libya”… These three programmes did not paint a good picture of what goes on in our plane in 2011 The use and abuse of children and the abuse of power are still as prevalent today as it was several hundred years ago.

The difference between the past and today is that today we have so many organizations trying to right the wrongs and it is time we gave them more support. It is time that governments make it a No-1 priority to target all areas where there is the abuse of children.

After watching those three programmes I felt that I had to cheer myself up so I tuned into a TV channel where a comedy was advertised. But as usual with so much of modern-day so called comedy where the scriptwriters seem to think that the only way to get laughter is with foul mouth obscenities. Thank goodness another channel was showing an episode of “Dad’s Army”.

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SNU Changes….

From 1st October 2011 there will no longer be Classes A, B, C or D membership classifications within the SNU. The new classifications are as follows:

Class A changes to – Church Representative.

Class B changes to – Individual Member.

Provisional Class B changes to – Provisional Individual Member.

Class C changes to – Kindred Body Representative

Class D changes to – Affiliated Member.

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From the Past…

1934 – First broadcast on behalf of Spiritualism through BBC by Ernest Oaten.

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Just as I was about to end this blog I watch another TV programme were the topic is anything but cheery.

On the Jeremy Kyle show I see what drugs had done to a young lady. This was a repeat of a show two years ago and things have got better for the young lass but it is unlikely she will fully get over mentally or physically the ravages of the particular nasty drug she took.

It makes my blood boil where I hear people say that they take drugs for recreational purposes and it does them no harm. Maybe such comments should be treated like racists comments and anyone who says such a thing could be taken to court.

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Psychic or Spiritual Supper? / Dowsing / help for the racehorse,,,

Sunday the 2nd I was at the Coatbridge Church where there was a good turnout considering the rain and high winds there was earlier in the day.

The 3rd was I was giving a talk on the ways spirit make themselves known to us.

Tuesday afternoon it was as always a pleasure to take the service at Glasgow Central Spiritualist Church, Berkley Street… Anyone entering this church is always assured of a warm and genuine welcome from Betty Hutton.

Then on Wednesday I headed south down the A77. Not the best of roads to drive on when there is torrential rain and gale force winds. But the welcome that one gets from the committee and members of the Stranaer Spiritualist church makes the journey worthwhile.

A friend was looking forward to a ‘psychic supper’ but was disappointed with the evening. She enjoyed the company and got a laugh but, she had not expected a Tarot reading. She had hoped to get communication from a close family member, a spiritual reading.

Here once again we have the confusion between ‘psychic’ and ‘spiritual’ The evening was advertised as a ‘psychic supper’ and the word ‘psychic’ can cover a whole host of things.

Twenty years or so ago ‘psychic suppers’ used to be common in Scotland, in our churches, but in recent years they have fallen away dramatically. I was always happy to take part in such evenings but I heard many mediums say that they were not too keen on them. So, this is just my view, I feel that it was the mediums’ being not too keen to take part in such nights that was the reason for them fizzling out in this area.

I am happy to say that this year two of our prominent churches have held such evenings recently and they were very successful. I was really impressed with one of the churches deciding not to call their evening a ‘Psychic Supper’ and used the title a ‘Supper Evening’ to avoid confusion between the ‘psychic’ and the ‘spiritual… This was the Glasgow Central Spiritualist Church, Berkley Street…And in the words of someone who attended the evening

I was pleased the church decided to call it a supper evening as there was no physic about it. It was truly a spiritual evening with a social twist. After readings there supper and then a game of bingo… It was designed as a social evening for members and was not all about raising money either but to give something back to the people who support the church paying for readings buying raffles etc all year round.. Some people don’t get out often and their social life is the church having a coffee and blether and a place to meet”.

Whether it be a ‘Psychic Supper’ or a ‘Supper Evening’ if it is held in the premises of a Spiritualist Church or the night run by a Spiritualist Church I would expect only Spiritual Mediums to be giving ‘messages’, . and Tarot readings would not play any part of the evening.

Mary asks what my opinion on “dowsing”.

I am very impressed by the art of dowsing and seen some remarkable demonstrations from experienced dowsers. There are many who think of searching for water when the word “dowsing” is mentioned. But dowsing can also be used in connection in health and well being, home and garden, for water divining, archaeological searches, earth mysteries including ley lines and much more.

I was taking part in a controlled experiment along with others with expertise in the psychic arena a few years ago, and I was most impressed by the results of the lone dowser in the group. I also was present when a dowser was asked to find the leak in an underground water pipe. Two houses in the country were suffering from loss of water pressure and after fifteen minutes the dowser marked a spot a good distance from the houses. A few hours later a couple of workmen appeared to trace and repair the leak. Their detector agreed exactly with the dowsing rods that were used a short time before.

Anyone interested in dowsing should check out the Internet for a local group.

For many years I have been campaigning for better treatment for the racehorse and at one stage I felt it was like banging my head against a brick wall. It is only in the past few years that little cracks started to appear in this wall and the 10th of October 2011 was momentous day for those who have been fighting for a better deal for the racehorse, and of course the animal it’s self.

New stricter rules on the use of the whip were introduced. Stronger penalties for the misuse of the whip, and the really important part in my opinion, forfeiture of riding fee and prize money percentage for a jockey who incurs a whip suspension of three days or more. Prior to Monday a jockey could be suspended for misuse of the whip and yet still benefit from his riding fee and percentage of the prize money. This year’s Grand National saw the winning jockey being banned for five days for being too harsh on his mount with the whip after the final fence. Yet he gained financially and was treated like a hero by the racing fraternity.

Even among those who protest about the use of the whip, most would not ban it completely. The use of the whip can straighten a horse out when travelling at speed so preventing an accident to horse and rider. I can still see loopholes in these new rules where the guilty will still benefit and we must go further and disqualify any horse and place it last when its rider is found guilty of breaking the rules on the use of the whip during a race. That will eventually come.

** Just as I am writing this I hear that there is a proposed strike by jockeys on Monday because of the new whip regulations. The very people who tell us they love the horse.

If you feel strongly about something, never give up, even if you feel the odds are stacked against you

I thought it appropriate the spiritual message this week should be about the racehorse.

Amsterdam / Anne Franks / Begging in the Streets / No Healing Service…

September saw me away from home fifteen of the thirty nights in that month. After my visit to Belfast it was home for a few days then off to Amsterdam for break, and then on returning I was staying overnight at the Arbroath Spirualist Centre (SNU). September saw me away from home fifteen of the thirty nights in that month. After my visit to Belfast it was home for a few days then off to Amsterdam for break, and then on returning I was staying overnight at the Arbroath Spirualist Centre (SNU).

The most powerful memory of Amsterdam is not of the many canals that crisscross the city but our visit to the Anne Frank’s Museum.

It is ironical that Anne Frank’s father had to move from the country of his birth, a country in which he had served as an officer during WWI, to seek safety for his family. Then after only a few years in his adopted country where he worked hard to set up a successful business, the trouble that he had escaped from was back to haunt him as Germany invaded Holland.

The harrowing memories that will stay with me for a long time to come are;-

The Yellow Star on display, that Jews in Holland was forced to wear during the WWII occupation. The star, a badge, a means of identification and intended to humiliate those who wore it.. It certainly worked as far as humiliation was concerned. On looking at photographs of the time the humillatiation was plain to see on the faces of those wearing this hideous yellow star.

The other harrowing memory was that Anne Franks passed away as the result of typhus and some say also of a broken heart only a month before liberation. Anne thought that all her family were gone and it is said she lost the will to live, but her father survived the war.

Through all this terror a star shone brightly, not the hideous yellow star but a bright star in the form of Anne Franks. Anne only had a short life as an innocent child before fear took over, but in her written words, her courage and determination will live on forever hopefully inspiring many of us.

The most powerful memory of Amsterdam is not of the many canals that crisscross the city but our visit to the Anne Frank’s Museum.

The harrowing memories that will stay with me for a long time to come are;-

The Yellow Star on display, that Jews in Holland was forced to wear during the WWII occupation. The star, a badge, a means of identification and intended to humiliate those who wore it… It certainly worked as far as humiliation was concerned. On looking at photographs of the time the humillatiation was plain to see on the faces of those wearing this hideous yellow star.

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On 29th/30th I was at the Arbroath Spiritualist Centre. It is always a pleasure to serve this Centre. I enjoyed a walked around the harbour as the sun shone in a cloudless sky.

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More and more people seem to be begging in the streets these days and we cannot give to them all. Many a time I have felt guilty walking past some poor soul sitting on the pavement, but probably already that day I have used up all my spare change in giving to others in the same position.

Two incidents in the past week really riled me. While in Amsterdam a gentleman approached me saying he was from Morocco and was starving, he needed 2.8 Euros for something to eat. I had no small change on me at the time and I said I would give him something on my way back down the street, which I would have done if he was still there. But all I got from him was abuse. The other occasion was in Scotland when I walked past someone begging and again got abuse. I must say that in my experience this is rare but it does leave a nasty taste in the mouth when it happens and it will stop people giving to those genuinely down on their luck.

We constantly hear “O’h they are only begging to get money for drink or drugs”. Yes, that will be what some will spend the money on, but certainly not by all. One of my sisters seeing someone really in need will buy them a sandwich and a cup of tea and those on the receiving end have always been grateful. A friend goes a step further and as well as the tea and coffee he offers to help them get to organizations that will be able to help them. Only once has he had a negative response to this.

Let us not be put off by the odd one that gives us abuse.

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Harry comments; – “My two local Spiritualist Churches have no Spiritual Healing sessions why is this?”

Most Spiritualist churches/centres do have healing services but not all, the latter being in the minority. Reasons for this could be that these churches have no qualified healers at present, or that the premises they are in are rented and they don’t have the time or the space for a small healing service. Harry, mention to the committees at both churches that you would like some Healing and see what their reply is. If one has any problems concerning one of our churches they should first approach a committee member to see if the problem can be ironed out.

Churches with their own premises give more time to the Healing side of Spiritualism, many having Healing only services.

I feel that our churches should put more emphasis on the Healing side of our religion. In my previous blog I mentioned the wonderful experience I had during the two hour healing Service in Belfast and with two Healers per patient.

I grind my teeth when visiting churches and hear someone say “I am ONLY a Healer”. I do wish they would miss out that word “ONLY” and be proud to be a Spiritual Healer. Spiritualism is a religion where we are all supposed to be equal, but as each year passes the spotlight seems to shine brighter on the Medium and the Healer is in the shadows.

Back to Harry…. As I have said, ask at the two churches you attend and if they cannot help you I will put you in touch with other churches in your area which do have Spiritual Healing after their Divine Services.

The Belfast Church…. The Fear Surrounding 2012….

From the 10th to the 19th I enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Belfast Spiritualist Church. (SNU)

What a wonderful atmosphere that meets all who step through the door of this church. The link with Spirit is already there and it makes it so easy for the medium to connect with Spirit.

I took the Divine Service on both Sundays, the development circle on Monday, and Wednesday evening’s clairvoyance. It was privileged to take part in the Healing Service on the Thursday evening. There were also private sittings Monday to Friday.

As last year I was greatly impressed by the enthusiasm of the committee and members to further their knowledge of Spiritualism. It reminded me of ASK Stewarton in the 90’s.

Shellie Nicholl, Robert Lewis, Dorothy Byrne, Collette Diamond, Pat James, , Debbie Griffin, Michelle Mc IIhatton, Samantha Dodds and Healing Leader Joanne Maguire are all part of a hard working committee that make this church so vibrant and successful. I apologise if I have missed out any committee members.

A great loss to the church earlier this year was the passing of Artie Hannah. He was long serving and hard working member of this church. Artie was I believe in Spiritualism for quarter of a century and inspired many in the movement.

Spiritualism in Northern Ireland started in 1912. An interesting insight into Spiritualism in Northern Ireland can be found on

http://belfastspiritualistchuch.co.uk/pages/history.html

It was nice to see several young children at the services, the youngest being only ten days old. I was a bit envious of this young lad as I wish I had been introduced to Spiritualism at that age.

The church is considering starting a Lyceum, like a Sunday school.

The Belfast Church is having a special charity night on 5th October and I am sure there will be a big turnout. I asked President Shellie Nicholl to explain about the evening.

“This event has been organised to raise money for Cold Cots for all maternity Wards in hospitals through N.I. My little nephew Marcus was born sleeping on 27th May & thankfully the Ulster had a cold cot, which meant our little angel could stay with his mummy for the duration of her time in hospital, but not all hospitals have them. When we raise enough for the first cold cot, we will be giving it to the Ulster.”

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I was a little taken aback earlier this month when I was asked to talk to a lady about the Mayan prediction that the world will end on 21/12/12. She was being treated for depression and her son said the cause of this was her belief that the world will end next year, cutting her children and grandchildren down before they have really had a life. I had to say to her family that I was a Spiritual Medium and that this gift given to me did not include predictions, but the family still wanted me to talk to the lady in question. It is not just one individual that many would say is overreacting, there have been reports from many countries around the world of people, especially the young being deeply upset at the approach of 2012. I did my best with the old soul but the only thing that will convince her is when the bells herald in 2013.

There have been countless predictions of the end of the world and yet Planet Earth still has an abundance of life. The most well know prediction that the world will end in 2012 is said to come from the ancient Mayan civilization. But on looking closer was this Mayan prediction, or Western interpretation of the Mayan long count calendar, that time will run out next year? What is less well known is that in other ancient Mayan sites long-count calendars have been found that go far beyond 2012, in fact roughly to the year 4772

2012 was also the chosen year for the end of the world by Nostradamus in the mid 1550s. But Nostradamus’s predictions are not clear cut, he writes symbolically and it is up to each reader as how to interpret his predictions.

There is also a theory that Christ was born in 4BC so the Mayan’s and Nostradamus’s 2012 was actually 2008AD. So another end of the world prediction has come and gone.

We have a media these days that needs sensationalism in every story. Nothing will sell more newspapers or get more people watching TV than articles and programmes about the end of the world. This causes panic among vulnerable people. Only the other day standing in a newsagent I heard several old people comment with concern about the headline in a national daily newspaper. They were worried about heating their homes as in bold print we were told to expect snow next month. Then on reading further down that heavy or moderate falls COULD be with us as early as October OR November.

The world’s climate has always been changing with man and beast having to adapt to survive. So far many species have managed this with success. In recent years we have seen climate change speeding up because of man’s abuse of the planet. . But even the most negative warnings about climate change do not predict the end of life as we know it in 2012. Hopefully governments will speed up their plans for cutting pollution and the global warming will have a lesser impact that was once feared.

Next year there will natural disasters like we have every year and let’s hope the media will not go overboard in sensationalising that this is the start of the end of the world as we know it.

My week…Spirit work in many ways…. The healing hymn…..

The three services at Glasgow Central Spiritualist Church, Berkley Street, Glasgow on the 28th, 29, th and 30th August were all well attended. All those attending this church are always assured of a friendly smile and a genuine greeting from Betty Hutton as they step through the door.

The first of the new month saw me taking a much shorter journey than usual to the Toryglen Spiritualist Church. The new part of the M74 cutting about fifteen minutes each way off my journey. Helen McEwen who was president of this church for many years and passed over to the Spirit World in January will be proud of the way the church is continuing with Bobbie at the helm.

On Sunday it was a pleasure to serve the busy .Love and Friendship Spiritualist Church in Langside Halls. Glasgow… President Maureen Land was wearing her other hat that evening as she was the Medium taking the service at another church. I must give a lot of praise a young gentleman called Scott who volunteered to chair for the first time and was so professional at it that if no one had told me I would have thought he had been chairing for years. I waited on for the Healing Service, Maureen had returned by this and it was great to see how many waited on from the Divine Service to take part in the Healing Service.

The following evening it was another full house at the Lighthouse Spiritualist Church in the Argyle Centre Saltcoats. Again a large % of the congregation from the first service waiting on for the healing Service.

Then on Wednesday it was off to the Partick Spiritualist Church in Glasgow. May I wish John Graham the President a belated Happy Birthday. John’s birthday was on the 8th of this month.

Also during that time I was busy with research work taking part in a debate and my usual voluntary work.

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I am always interested in success stories connected around visits to our churches and as I keep saying it is not always a message from the platform. Two I have heard recently; –

After losing her husband, father and sister all within an eighteen month period Bella almost became a recluse for a few years apart from her work and once a week shopping which was brief. After four years of this she was passing a Spiritualist Church on the way home from work one night and she felt the sudden urge to go in, even though she was tired and hungry. She sat at the back of the church feeling very embarrassed and uncomfortable not really listening what was being said from the platform Then a thought suddenly came into her head “Do you think we would have shut ourselves away if it was you who had passed over?”, Bella slipped out of the church at this and cried all the way home. The following morning she thought over these words and decided to get away from under the black cloud that had been above her head for the past four years. Her plan was not to go back to a Spiritualist Church, but going into a fast-food outlet for a meal, going for a coffee the following weekend and then the biggest test of all, going to the cinema, she had never been to the cinema alone in her life before. On each of these three occasions she met old accquantices of the past and now they keep in touch. Spirit works in many strange ways but most of it goes unnoticed.

The second was a gentleman whose wife forced him to go to healing services because he was stressed out. The stress was caused by work, a new working practice and as he was getting older he felt that his brain mind could not grasp the new procedures.. He said that all through the healing Services his mind was on his next week’s work schedule but not in the usual panic, but in a relaxed manner and all went well at work. Spiritual healing works in many different ways

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Donna asked for the words of the healing hymn as she wants to use it in her prayers each night…. Here it is Donna…

The Healing Hymn

Gracious Spirit, of Thy Goodness,
Hear our anxious prayer!
Take our loved ones who are suffering,
‘Neath Thy tender care.
Loving Father, hear us, hear us!
Gracious Spirit, may Thy Presence
Shed a Healing Ray,
Turning all their night of darkness
Into glorious day.
Loving Father, hear us, hear us!
Gracious Spirit, should’st Thou claim them,
Be their Light and Guide!
Lead them to the Heavenly Kingdom
Safely by Thy side.
Loving Father, hear us, hear us!

My week… A grand old gentleman of Spiritualism and Helen Duncan….

Sunday the 21st saw me take the 120-mile round trip to Dunfermline Spiritualist Church (SNU) . I have been serving this busy church for many years now and as I stepped on the platform on my recent visit I noticed something was different, there was no William Stenhouse sitting in the front row. William is a grand old gentleman of Spiritualism who has been serving Spirit and his church for over 60-years. Such dedication could not go unnoticed, and it was with great pleasure the church hosted an evening in 2009 where William was presented with a long service award to Spiritualism by John Weir Past President of the Spiritualists’ National Union’s Scottish and Irish District Council. At that same ceremony a brass plaque was placed in the church to honour the memory of Elizabeth McDonald and to commemorate the sixty-years of dedication to the church. This church has been blessed to have two such long service and loyal members. William, now ninety-one, rarely missed a service up until recently and was a dedicated healer for a number of years. President Evelyn Izatt and the committee still keep in close contact with William.

The following afternoon I was much closer to home taking a meditation class. A group of people who felt that they had so much stress in their lives, decided to gather once a week to enjoy each other’s company and to sit in a relaxing peaceful environment. They soon found that all went well till they came to the thirty minutes set aside for meditation. It was not so easy and some found it impossible. One gentleman commented “I have lost what it takes to relax”. Many will agree they are in the same position and I have been asked several times recently on tips on how to relax. I will go into this in detail in a few weeks.

Wednesday evening it was a pleasure to sit in with Pollock’s Pyramid Spiritualist Church circle. A very talented group who have a great thirst for knowledge about our psychic abilities and our link with Spirit.

Thursday voluntary work…

Friday a day off….

Then on Saturday another 120-mile round trip to ASK Dunfermline for private sittings….

Life for mediums on their long journeys to churches, and for the travelling public in general, in Scotland’s central belt has become a lot easier in recent weeks. With the long overdue completion of the M74, there are now no long hold ups, to get over the Kingston Bridge. The upgrading of the A80/M80 is also cutting down travelling times for drivers. I dread to think the hours I have spent sitting on the Kingston Bridge in traffic jams on my way to churches…

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Joan asks for information on Helen Duncan…

Helen Duncan was born in Callander Perthshire in 1897 and is often referred too as a “Spiritualist martyr”. In 1944 she was the second last person, not the last as is commonly reported, to be prosecuted under the antiquated Witchcraft Act. Helen’s alleged crime? She transmitted messages from sailors killed in a naval incident during WWII that the authorities had kept secret. She was tried at the Old Bailey, and though many prominent people of the day spoke on her behalf, Mrs Duncan spent nine months in prison. Helen passed away in 1956.

For anyone wanting to know more about Helen’s life there are two books that I would recommend.

Two Worlds of Helen Duncan” by Gena Brealey and Kay Hunter.

“Helen Duncan, My Living Has Not Been In Vain” by Scottish Medium Mary Armour”.

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While on books my friend Susie Mathews has written a book that is selling well. “Inspirations of The Divine” is inspired philosophy and poetry and it is a lead into Susie’s next book which she is writing at the moment. It is published by authorhouse and the ISBN is 9781456783372.

Dave Nicholl and Is There a Hell?

Sunday 14th was to be a day at home but I got a call to take the service at Coatbridge Spiritualist Church because the medium was ill. Dave Nichol was sitting at the back of the church as he usually is these days. Dave, a well known and respected medium in the Lanarkshire area for several decades He has to take things a bit easier these days but he is still very enthusiastic about the spiritualism movement.

Tuesday night is was my pleasure to take the circle at Blantyre Spiritualist Church.

Wednesday was an afternoon meditation circle…

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A question from Patrick; –

“I am totally confused by Spiritualism as you and your lot constantly chatter on about the Spirit World and never a mention of hell.”

Yes, we do constantly mention the Spirit World as we believe it is our next destination after we leave this physical body. Personally I do not believe in “hell”. I believe that ancient religious leaders used this word to describe a terrible place so they could have control over the masses. Do as we tell you or you will go to hell. That does not mean that those who do wrong in this life get away scot free when they move over to the Spirit World.

Patrick, I would like to draw your attention to the sixth of our seven principles “Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all the Good and Evil Deeds done on Earth”. We will have to answer for our misdeeds and pay for the error of our ways before we can reap the benefits of the Spirit World.

But I do believe there is a hell, several in fact, and they are on this level Look on the atrocities in recent years in Rwanda, Tibet, Burma and at the very moment in Libya and Syria.

Yorkshire, James Randi, Grandaughter makes contact etc…

Last week we took a coach tour to Yorkshire, Emmerdale and The Last of the Summer Wine country. Only one complaint, the dinners at the hotel.

Emmerdale Farm, as it was then called, was one of my favourite programmes but the last time I watched it was when Old Sam (Toke Townley) and Mat Skilbeck (– Frederick Pyne) were in the cast, and that is going back to about 1983. From what I hear a peaceful little country village is now more like Sodom and Gomorrah these days.

Last of the Summer Wine – the longest running sitcom in the world, was a great programme and one of the few programmes that never seemed to be past its sell buy date.

We also spent a day in Leeds and enjoyed our visit to the art gallery and museum.

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George asks; – “Why do psychic, mediums not take on James Randi’s $1,000,000 challenge?”

James Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician, paranormal investigator, scientific skeptic and is probably best known in Britain as a challenger of paranormal claims. Mr. Randi is founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). This organization has for many years offered $1,000,000 for anyone who can demonstrate their psychic abilities in laboratory conditions that both parties agree upon beforehand.

Well George, I think the reason for no one taking on the challenge is centred around “anyone who can demonstrate their psychic abilities in laboratory conditions that both parties agree upon beforehand.” It maybe is impossible for both parties to agree on the right criteria for the test.

I, like many other mediums have been asked to take part in tests and I have taken part in some and not in others. Some I felt was a waste of my time because of the type of tests.

Let us miss out tests on the psychic level and look at tests on the spiritual level. Remember a spiritual medium cannot bring forward any particular person from the spirit world, that person in spirit has to want to come forward at that particular time. And usual the link from spirit is to a loved one, a family member or friend. So, just say a test is done in ‘laboratory conditions, will that suite spirit? Will spirit wish to perform for those testing the medium? And will they be willing to repeat such a thing three times just to satisfy the researchers? Is that not like asking those from this other dimension to jump through hoops time and time again like a circus animal? Some may say that is just an excuse. Well, let them say that if they wish, I would have said exactly the same a few years back but with the experience I have; I have changed my mind…

Here is one instant where spirit made them self known because of family ties and family grief, and I doubt the same strong contact would have been made in laboratory conditions. The family concerned are happy for their experiences to be told.

A seventeen-year-old girl is killed in a tragic road accident and it goes without saying her family were devastated. About six weeks after the young lady’s passing unusual things started happening, not only in her parent’s house but in houses of other members of the family also. The deceased’s CD not only turned on when no one was in the room but on both occasions at 6PM, that was the time when Gina would go her room while her parents watched the news. Her teddy bear she had from childhood would be constantly on the floor, yet her parents always placed it back on her bed. These were the two dramatic incidents but smaller things happened around the three houses that the family felt had to be down to Gina trying to make contact with them. . This family had never thought of life after death so it was as they were looking for things to happen and grasping at straws. A neighbour suggested they contacted a spiritualist church and I went out to see them.

All but the grandfather just wanted to know if these unusual happenings could be Gina letting them know she lived on. The old soul was distraught’ he would not go out of the house for days at a time and was none too pleased at me being in the house. After my explanation I was not allowed to leave without a cup of tea. I was left in the lounge with the grandfather who was glowering at me and mumbling away to himself. All of a sudden we both saw a pink orb about 2” – 3” orb in diameter move slowly across the room and disappear close to a crystal fruit bowl sitting on a sideboard. I must admit I was almost as startled as the grandfather and when he asked “What was that? All I could say was What is behind the fruit bowl?” It turned out that behind the bowl among some official papers was a small school photo of Gina.

When the women came back into the room and we explained what had happened, they asked if I could make the orb appear again. I said that I could not as I had nothing to do with the orb appearing. As I said this two of the women pointed behind me as they claimed to have seen a faint pink orb only for a few seconds.

Was that Gina letting her grandfather and other members of the family know that she was still close to them? That is for you to make up your own mind but here is a few others things to take into account.

The family have had no strange happenings in any of their homes since. So that makes me feel that what they claimed happened before my visit actually did happen and it was not their mind making up such a thing.

Could the orb have been the reflection of the sun from a passing car or a window opposite? At the time there was low cloud and it was raining.

And why was the orb pink? Was there any clue with the colour? Of the many photos I saw of Gina, in big percentage of them she was wearing pink and in her bedroom walls and curtains were pink also.

Was that Gina making herself know to her grandfather? To give him some hope and to get on with his life? I believe so, but if that had been a test would the young lass have repeated it three times just to satisfy a researcher? I don’t think so. All genuine spiritualist mediums will have similar tales to tell and that spirit is not going to perform to suit sceptics. They will make themselves aware to comfort those who are grieving the passing of a loved one.

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We cannot begin to understand the anguish of those who have lost their homes and all their possessions in the riots in London and other English cities over the past few days. To wake up one morning having a home, all that s in it and say a car , yet a few hours later you are left with nothing but the clothes you wear must be horrendous. They could be homeless for weeks, months or more. Those who are insured will get compensation but the money will never replace itmes that may have been handed down through the family for generations and family photos. We see such riots in other countries but never expect them to take place in Britain.

Norway… Forgiveness ….

On Sunday 10th I took a break from driving and went by train to Edinburgh, to take the service at the Albany Street Church (SNU). There was a good turnout for the last service before the summer break.

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On the 12th another good turnout at Neilson Spiritualist Church especially as the weather was so good. Sheila Caruthers is President of this church which originally started out in Barrhead then moved up the road to Neilson.

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I was at the Glasgow Association (SNU), Somerset Place, Glasgow from the 16th – 19th. The usual Friday evening open circle was cancelled because of the start of the Glasgow Fair… Even though it was the local holiday period there were still big turn outs at three of the four services. That would be partly due to Berkley Street being closed, but there was a good number visiting the church for the first time. A few from abroad…

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On the 25th it was north to Inverness for the service at Smithston Spiritualist Church (SNU). I stayed over to attend the Dalneigh Church the following evening. I have always been impressed how enthusiastic the people in the NE are as far as spiritualism is concerned. Anyone thinking of going to Inverness for a few days I can recommend an excellent B&B.

Braeside B&B

12 Midmills Road

Inverness

IV2 3NX

It is only a few minutes from the city centre and you will be well looked after by Hazel.

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22/7/11 is a day that will never be forgotten by the Norwegian people. The day tragedy struck a small peace loving nation. But I feel that as well as thinking of the tragedy, there will be many of us around the world who will also think back in awe at the way Norway and its people responded they the two barbaric acts that took so many innocent people.

Many other nations struck by terrorist acts have responded quickly with heavy security-force deployments and clampdowns on civil liberties. Yet that was not evident in Norway. A friend who was in the country at the time said it was amazing how calm, and how easily accessible, Norwegian citizens and institutions remained. He commented that in the days following, leaders of the government and the royal family continued to visit the scenes of greatest tragedy, the area of the bombing, hospitals, hotels where parents were waiting for news of their children. And yet there was barley any security.

The suffering is still there, the suffering will be with this small nation for a long time to come, so let our prayers for the victim’s families not end when reporting of the tragedies disappears from the media. We can all learn from the people of Norway….

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This week a brave rape victim forgives a knife-wielding stranger who walked into her home and put her through ninety minutes of hell. Many will fail to understand how a victim can forgive such an act. For most of us “forgiveness” always seems to be so difficult, almost impossible. But those who can forgive in the face of severe adversity I look upon as brave and close to sainthood.

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Colin, Barry Anne and Myra all ask the same question; – “We get bombarded with emails or “postal readings” do they really work?”

I always advise anyone who feel they need a private-sitting to go along to a spiritualist church. I am going to write about this in the next few weeks…

Joan wants to know if I will comment on dowsing. Yes, that will be coming up also.