Speaking in Tongues

In "direct voice"* seances, it sometimes happens that spirit people speak in their native tongue, rather than in English. It does not happen a great deal though and I have often wondered why. Once again the lovely Canadian book "Trails of Truth" offers an explanation. The explanation was forthcoming because an American immigrant from Italy was sitting that night in the group and her husband in Spirit spoke to her in Italian for a while.

I have no idea if the explanation is true but it is the first time I have come across a genuine effort to explain the use of various energies present in the seance room during physical mediumship. Whether the same explanation holds good for Trance Mediums when they speak in foreign languages, I do not know.

"There was a short explanation concerning the process of bringing through languages. Doctor Anderson (from Spirit) said,

"Italian is difficult to bring through because we do not have enough Italian vibrations in the room. As it is, we have fifty Italian helpers on this side to assist, otherwise we should have to draw heavily on the instrument. This would be detrimental to his health - very harmful to him indeed - if we continued for any length of time."

We are often told about the importance of 'vibrations' in the circle or seance room and the words of Dr Anderson go some way, I think, towards explaining why.


* There are two types of Direct Voice mediumship:

1) Independent Direct Voice, where the Spirit people create a voice box from ectoplasm, (these have been successfully photographed using infra-red film) which is often sited above one shoulder of the medium.

2) Direct Voice where the medium's own voice box is used. In both cases, the sitter being spoken to from Spirit will recognise the voice from Spirit as being exactly the same as when the communicator was living on earth.

In the case above, independent direct voice was used and trumpets (metal cones) were used to amplify the spirit voices. It is often difficult for communicators to use these trumpets and their voices initially at least, are faint; hence the need for 'trumpets'. Other physical phenomena took place in the seances, including sitters feeling the physical touch of hands from spirit, the handing of flowers (which had been placed in the centre of the circle at the outset) to individual sitters by unseen hands, (the seances took place in total darkness) the sprinkling of water (again, placed in the centre at the outset) and the creation of beautiful perfumes. The medium present at almost all the seances described in the book was Mr William Cartheuser.