When mediumship appears spontaneously, how does one reassure the medium?

How should we explain the "GIFT" to be able to receive the higher vibrations from the spirit guide or loved one if they think they may be hallucinating or hearing things due to a mental imbalance instead of actually understanding and believing that they are "sensitive" to the frequencies that allow them to receive the vibrations and therefore can see, feel and/or hear spirit?


All human beings consist of three basic elements, body, mind and spirit and the mind and spirit move with us into the spiritual world when we ‘die’. The spirit is sensitive to atmosphere on earth through a mechanism known as the aura. Most people have experienced for instance the feeling that they will like or dislike a person they have met for the first time and know nothing about. Sometimes too, one feels the atmosphere in a room or an old building and it can feel very unpleasant. This is the aura interacting with the aura of the other person and in the second instance with the impressions of highly emotive events that have taken place and are imprinted on the auric field of the room. In a few people this sensitivity extends to being aware of ‘information’ communicated from people in the spiritual world. When this occurs the spirit, through the mind, makes our physical brain aware of this communication, sometimes in the form of words, sometimes pictures and sometimes feelings. Because only a relatively few people have this kind of sensitivity, they themselves naturally feel they are in some way weird or unbalanced, perhaps even in need of psychiatric counselling. It sometimes creates fear in them because of this. This type of sensitivity is called ‘natural mediumship’.

Just as the human spirit naturally survives what we call death, (everybody, not just those who believe in certain religious dogma.) communication between ourselves and those who have passed beyond our world into the spiritual world is equally natural and has been going on since man’s earliest days. There is nothing weird about it and it is a tragedy that the medical and psychological professions have given a different impression. This is due to the fact that their training takes account only of the physical nature of humanity and ignores the mind and the spirit completely. Psychiatrists say they study the mind but in reality they study the brain (which is physical) for they do not accept the reality that mind and brain are two entirely different things.

If you are a person who has this gift, for make no mistake it is a gift, try not to be afraid. Talk about your experiences with someone in your family or a friend who will be sympathetic and not condemnatory. You should also test the information you seem to have been given in this way. If it is genuine, there should be a way to confirm that what you have seen, been told or felt so keenly. Let me give an example:

A friend of mine who is a ‘natural medium’ became aware in her meditations of a Japanese man who claimed he had been a Samurai many years before on one of the smaller Japanese Islands. Knowing that Samurai’s were very well known within their communities, she decided to write to the island concerned and ask about this man, for he gave a name to her. Not only did the island authorities confirm the man had lived when he claimed but they sent a picture of him. This Samurai spirit had been seen by a clairvoyant friend, so my friend the medium decided on a test. When she knew the clairvoyant was about to visit her she displayed the picture in the room where they would meet. Immediately he saw the picture, the clairvoyant exclaimed. “That’s him! That’s the man I saw!

Be willing to talk, within your mind, to whoever appears to be giving you these impressions etc. If you are really too upset and frightened to do that and do not want to be involved then speak in your mind to the person and ask them please to leave you alone. In order to ‘talk’ like this to the people from the spiritual world, sit quietly where you are not likely to be disturbed and imagine yourself surrounded by a beautiful light. As this light becomes more real to you, start ‘speaking’ in your mind to the person concerned. Don’t worry that you do not know their name. Also do not worry that sitting in the stillness in this way might be dangerous to you, it isn’t. By using the light in the way suggested, you are ensuring that only those whose intentions are honest and genuine can draw close to you. Light is a wonderful thing – it completely dissolves darkness, which cannot exist in its presence. This applies to physical light and darkness and that of mind and spirit equally.

You have been chosen to be one of the few people able to bring true comfort to the bereaved by proving their loved ones live on and by your evidence, to persuade others of the truth that all life is eternal and of the spirit. People would be infinitely happier and healthier were they able to accept unconditionally that they are spirit as well as physical and live this life in the knowledge of the one that is to come. It is a service to your fellow human beings that is second to none.

What is the difference between a Psychic and a Medium?

Both are sensitive and obtain information through the medium of their aura that is not available to those who are less sensitive. The aura is an energy field that surrounds the physical body and it reflects the condition of the individual, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It is the centre of everyone’s ability to sense in general. When you sense someone approaching you from the rear but you cannot actually see or hear them, it is the aura that ‘tells’ you they are there. Primitive man could survive in a very hostile environment because he was able to sense threatening things happening all around him, even if he couldn’t see or hear a particular threat. The aura in early man must have been highly developed but with the onset of ‘civilisation’ we have come to rely less and less on its ‘early warning’ system. However, even today, we can all recall occasions when meeting another person for the first time, we have suddenly realised we are going to like them very much or alternatively, dislike them. This is before we know anything about them.

Because the aura reflects the whole person, mind, body and spirit, it can and is used to communicate ‘hidden’ information to the conscious mind. What do I mean by ‘hidden’ information? Information contained in the aura of another person, an object, a building or, if the individual processing the ‘hidden’ information has a gift of mediumship, from a communicator in the spiritual world. Such information is ‘hidden’ because ordinary people are just not aware that it is there. For instance, a sensitive psychic with the ability to ‘read’ the aura can tell as soon as they attune themselves to the individual, if that person is sick. Even if an illness is in its early stages it will show up as a dark area in the person’s aura and with regular practice the psychic can determine which part of the body is affected. To a gifted psychic, the aura is similar to a ticker tape. He or she can run the tape through their hands, as it were, and read off from it all the information it contains and that can be a great deal.

Psychics and mediums are taught to expand their auras at will. When the aura is expanded, the medium or psychic becomes super-sensitive to everything around him or her. In the case of the medium he will then be able to receive information either from his spiritual guide or helper, or direct from the spirit relative or friend of his client.

Both mediums and psychics are able to collect information from their sitter or client’s aura but only the medium is able to communicate with someone in the spiritual world. The medium has to learn by constant practice, the difference in feeling between information being picked up from the client’s aura and that being communicated by a person from the spiritual world. Only when they are confident in their ability to do this can they be truly honest in the practice of their mediumship. It is unfortunately the case that many psychics and mediums, because they know no better, frequently pass off information received from their client’s aura, as coming from the spiritual world.

Mediums and Their Ability to Predict

I have always been curious about how a medium would be able to know things that might happen in our future since they are receiving the messages from our loved ones sometimes and how would our loved ones know what might happen in our future?


How do mediums tell the future? I’m not sure they do. If they are using their mediumship, then it is spirit that is talking about the future and in that, we return to the helicopter pilot analogy I used earlier. Also I believe, because they know our hopes and expectations, they sometimes indulge in a little game. They know that if they reinforce a strong hope, dream or expectation, the chances of it being realised will be increased. I’m sure you know yourself that you try harder to achieve something if you are encouraged.

The latter is what mediums do when just working with their psychic faculty. The difference is the psychic does it unconsciously because he or she doesn’t understand how the gift works. He senses the sitter’s hopes, dreams, expectations, even their state of health and often interprets what he is sensing as coming from spirit (which it is not). He then tells the sitter what he feels as though the information were coming from spirit. The psychic infers that what he feels is going to happen in the sitter’s life and thus reinforced, hey presto, the psychic’s prediction becomes self-fulfilling!

A big problem for Spiritualism is the widespread use of the words Clairvoyant and Clairvoyance. To the man in the street and the compilers of our dictionaries, clairvoyance means fortune telling or seeing into the future. This is not what a genuine clairvoyant is or should be but it matters not what the Spiritualist definition might be, most people will think ‘fortune teller’ and expect to be told the future. Unfortunately, a lot of Spiritualists expect clairvoyants to do this too and go for sittings expecting spirit to solve all their personal problems, tell them where the next husband is coming from, what their health is going to be like in five years time and how the stock market is going to perform. Our loved ones are still very interested in what is happening to and around us and will do their best to help but their prime desire is to prove they still live and that had they known when they lived on earth, what they know now, they would have behaved differently. Most older mediums refuse to give ‘fortune telling’ readings and return fees if sitters are not really interested in proof of survival. Mind you a good reading will often include information on both.

There are other theories about the ability to read the future. One is that time is not linear at all and all events are happening at the same time in some way. By being able to mentally jump to where an apparently future event is taking place, one is able to see it happening before it does so. That’s a bit convoluted I know. The other theory is perhaps more sensible. Because nothing happens without a cause and often a cause comes well before an event, anyone knowing the cause has occurred will be able to predict the outcome accurately. Health problems are a case in point. The causes of ill health occur often long before the illness, so the spirit people will certainly know about what we are doing to injure our health and will warn us to desist. I’m sure this factor features prominently in cases of ‘precognition’, where certain people have dreams or waking visions of disasters. It is also likely that spirit, who are bound to know that something has triggered a future occurrence, will use that to inform a sitter about a future event, where they believe it is in the sitter’s best interests to know. I add that in the knowledge that spirit will not tell us future news if it is inevitable and they know it cannot be avoided, unless they are sure we won’t spend all our time before the event worrying about it instead of living life normally.

As to where the medium gets the information from, if he is using his mediumship it will come from spirit – sometimes a guide and sometimes a loved one of the sitter. If the medium is working psychically, the information is his misinterpretation of strong desires or emotions being picked up from the sitter’s aura, which he claims is coming from the spirit world.

Choice of Parents

If we chose parents that are abusive or treat us harshly, is that so we can learn how to cope and build better characters for ourselves since like you said, "we are seeking to learn certain lessons from our earthly lives"? Is this endeavour of self-improvement here on earth for a reason that pertains to our position in the spirit world?


The objective of consciousness, which is how I define of life, is to always seek evolvement into a higher form of consciousness. Therefore it follows that when we choose to come to earth and take on a physical body, that choice must have purpose. I believe we choose a particular family, particular parents and a particular period of time because we have reason to believe that in that family at that time in the world’s history, we are most likely to face the physical, emotional or mental conditions and experiences that will provide us with the opportunity to learn particular spiritual lessons.

We know we need to learn these lessons in order to progress. i.e. evolve our consciousness. Sometimes we do not learn the lessons at the first opportunity. In this case we receive another chance and another and so on. Bear in mind it is possible to learn the same spiritual lesson from a wide variety of physical experiences, so the subsequent chances will not necessarily come in the same form as the first.

What is Our Aim in Earth Life?

Another question and answer.

Lionel

Do you think that some of us aspire to better ourselves while here on earth to raise our vibrations and earn a loftier position in the spirit world like becoming a guide or a guardian angel, etc.?


Of course our Guardian knows why we chose the life we did and will try hard to help us achieve what we set out to do. Sometimes that reason is to learn certain spiritual lessons to equip us to move to the next highest sphere in the spirit world when we return. Sometimes it is for more altruistic reasons. Whatever the reason the lessons are learned from physical and emotional experiences here. The same lesson can be learned from many different experiences and sometimes we don’t learn the lesson from the first experience.

Maybe we need to learn humility and therefore the life we choose will offer that experience. Maybe we will be physically or mentally handicapped and have to learn to accept being totally dependant upon another person. Maybe we wish to help others by agreeing to be born say with Down’s Syndrome. Such children need constant attention and can never mature as normal youngsters do but their capacity for giving out love is unequalled and they often transform the lives of their carers in positive ways that those of us not involved would find it difficult to imagine.

Maybe we need to learn the responsibilities of leadership or the difficulties of coping with power and its corrupting influences. Maybe we choose to lead a totally anonymous life. The example of the abusive parents is a good one. It might be what helps us build a stronger character and after all our character is all we take with us to spirit. On the other hand abuse could have the reverse effect and so it is with everything in life. Few things have just a single possible outcome. However, no matter whether our choices whilst we are here are good or bad, the fact remains we decided to take the risk, knowing it could go either way. That is the true courage every individual has shown and because of that I believe we should try to respect and love everyone, even those we can’t like!

Whatever we decide in the spirit world before coming here, our Guardian will have been with us to give advice and counsel. We might think that once we are here we’re on our own but that is never true. Not only do our spirit friends try to keep us on track but physical people often do so without realising it. Maybe the simple words or actions of a child might be enough to help us take the right decision when we find ourselves at one of many crossroads in our lives. This is why we should always try to remain aware of what is happening around us and try to be interested in what others are doing and why – not to criticise but to learn.

I don’t believe any of us will qualify to be a Guide or Guardian Angel upon leaving earth, except perhaps for those children who have merely touched the earth and then been recalled to spirit. They give off such a perfect light, as I know from my work as a medium, that I could easily be persuaded they have become angels on their return to spirit. Most of us have probably been too sullied by the negative aspects of earth to qualify immediately for such responsibilities. What is true is that where we settle after our initial period of adjustment to life in spirit is determined by the life we lived on earth. How we lived, rather than what we believed.

Another Question

Here is another question about our spiritual life submitted by a friend. I hope you find the answer interesting. Lionel

Why are we being guided at all - is there a reason for what we are trying to accomplish or what they think is in our best interest to evolve towards enlightement or some other worthwhile goal while here on earth before transitioning to the spirit world?

Our Guides or Guardian Angels (they used to be called “Guardians” when I was a boy) do not usually make their guidance known through mediums. They try to find ways to influence our mind so that we take the best possible action in any situation. They are not seeking personal recognition, their love is truly unconditional. Remember, they are with us at all times. Where a person meditates regularly and effectively, I believe their Guardian will influence them strongly while they are in the relaxed mental state and stillness induced by meditation.

Why are we being guided? The simple answer is because of love. From the moment we are born we begin to forget our spiritual and eternal heritage. As Wordsworth puts it:-

“The homely nurse doth all she can
To make her foster-child, her inmate man,
Forget the glories he hath known,
And that imperial palace whence he came.”

Our physical senses swamp our awareness and we gradually lose the knowledge that we are eternal and all things physical assume the greatest importance. Because of this we often make misguided decisions – misguided from the viewpoint of our eternal spirit. Our Guardian does all he or she can to persuade us to live this life in the knowledge of the life that is to come, the reasons we decided to incarnate and to base our decisions on spiritual rather than just earthly considerations. The love of a Guardian is without conditions and no matter how much we may err from a spiritual point of view he or she will never desert us.

However, they can only suggest. We have free will and frequently ignore the kindly suggestions of our guides.

Guides/Guardian Angels

I was recently asked the following question and I thought you may find it and the answer interesting.

Lionel

You said that our chief guide or guardian angel, the one who has been with us the longest, would know all the details of our past and can then guide us so lovingly. Do they also know our future?


Our chief guide or guardian angel was with us and helped us to choose when and where to be born on earth, so yes he or she certainly knows our past, including the time before we were born into a physical body. As you rightly say, this enables him or her to guide and guard us so lovingly. They know our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and failures, our hopes and anxieties and, no matter how much we may have stumbled on our pathway, they love us just the same. They can be aware of our future in the same way that all people in the spirit world can be so aware.

I liken them to helicopter pilots. If you are driving fast along a narrow, twisty, country road with high hedges and there is a large truck coming the other way, you have no way of knowing it is there until it is almost upon you. A helicopter pilot flying above you would be able to see both vehicles and would know that unless you slow down, there will be a dreadful accident. The pilot can therefore warn you to slow down and take extra care. The guides are in much the same situation vis a vis us. They, from their elevated position can see a little further ahead than can we but not a long way.

They are therefore in a position to warn of impending collision. However, even our Guardian Angel cannot interfere with our free will. If we are determined to take a certain action, even though the angel knows we will regret it later, he or she cannot prevent us from doing it. They can drop suggestions in our mind that we would be unwise to proceed but they can go no further.

KARMA AND REINCARNATION

Recently I published a blog on this subject stating my disagreement with the idea of Karma and reincarnation in general.

As I said, the idea that everyone must return to earth many times in order to purify the soul, runs contrary to my experience and relegates the Spiritual World to the role of a glorified waiting room. There are countless different spheres in the spiritual world, through which each of us graduates as we progress spiritually and this progress is reflected in the light that surrounds us. Each sphere is delineated by light - only individuals whose light is bright enough for a particular sphere may dwell in it.

However, there is no doubt in my opinion that some people do reincarnate - the evidence is too strong to be totally refuted. What determines who reincarnates? Just as those who die believing absolutely that they must remain 'asleep' until the sound of the 'last trump', do just that and can remain dormant for centuries of our time. So it is with people who have an absolute conviction that they are required to reincarnate. Free will is paramount and the mind is the most powerful instrument in the universe. Such people will therefore insist on being reborn as physical human beings on earth - and not necessarily just once either.

In my opinion such reincarnation demonstrates the power of the mind and the primacy of free will but the fact that it happens does not mean it is necessary for the growth of our soul. In many ways it impedes such growth because repeated doses of incarceration of the spirit within a physical body in a physical environment run the risk of coarsening the soul! This means the individual who insists on reincarnating may have to work much harder than the rest of us to progress in the spiritual world, once he or she decides to abandon repeated incarnations.

Reincarnation theory was born as a mistaken interpretation of information from the spiritual world that each person is reborn many times. The reference was to rebirth to the differing spheres in the spiritual world, not to rebirth on earth but this was not understood. Equally, the information Alan Kardec (the founder of Spiritism) received through his trance mediums that went into the compilation of "The Spirits Book" and "The Mediums Book" was erroneous. Oh yes, the information came from the spiritual world but from those people there who had convinced themselves they had to reincarnate in order to progress. It illustrates the naivity of accepting at face value everything that comes from spirit. Spirit people possess the same prejudices in spirit that they had on earth and although experience in the spiritual world eventually persuades them to change those views, it does not happen immediately. We must be wary. Everything we receive from spirit should be analysed carefully and examined by our own sense of what seems right and what makes sense to us. The fact that something was uttered by a spirit does not make it sacrosanct.

Spirit Photographs/Thoughtographs

Spirit Photo of Tommy Haldane & his parents (who were physically present) and a picture of Tommy and his dog before he passed to Spirit.



Another question, the answer to which may be of interest to many of you. Lionel

Question: Were the thoughtographs taken using Kirlian photography principles and/or techniques?


Thoughtographs were taken using a normal camera and film and although the Japanese are convinced the forms on the photograph result from the action of the mind of the medium, I take issue with them on this, as did William Hope, the English photographic medium. When the leading exponent of thoughtographs in Japan met Britain’s leading Psychic Photographer (William Hope) in London in 1948 both parties accepted their respective terms described an identical process. It is impossible for me to accept that spirit photographs are produced solely by the medium’s mind. In most cases the photographic medium has no knowledge of any of the people whose faces appeared as ‘extras’ on his photographs. I am satisfied the soul or spirit of the person whose image appears as the extra, is actually present at the photographic session. His spirit body or ‘aura’ as Boddington describes it, is draped with ectoplasm/psychoplasm by the spirit people controlling the session, light is produced (invisible to the human eye but not to photographic emulsion) and this illuminates the figure that is made solid enough by the ectoplasm to reflect the light.

As I tried to explain in my extracts from “Please God,” the mind is the vital factor in all psychic phenomena; the mind, not just of the medium but also of the spirit operator(s). Particle physicists have, I understand, noticed how certain sub-atomic particles behave differently depending upon who is observing them. Also some particles seem to disappear and then re-appear, inexplicably.

A) Is the mind changing the particle’s behaviour?

B) Is the particle being used in both dimensions (physical & spirit) similar to the description from spirit that Dark Matter is subject to gravity in both dimensions?

The mind emanates energy, of that there can be no doubt. The Russians have measured noticeable changes in brainwave patterns when a telepath receives or sends telepathic messages, for instance. I believe the mind is THE most powerful instrument for good and ill, in creation. Not only do we understand a mere fraction of its capabilities, but we refuse to seriously investigate them. The fear of ridicule is paramount amongst the Western scientific establishment (and only slightly less so in the East!) and anything that can be construed as even vaguely connected with ‘the occult’ or ‘new age’ is avoided like the plague. As investigating the mind properly involves accepting the hypothesis that it is not a physical instrument, (it and the brain are not synonymous) it smacks of occultism to the average scientist brought up to believe the brain and the mind are one. For similar reasons, Kirlian’s great invention has been ignored by most scientists, particularly in the West. The Russians had the good sense to investigate it and other paranormal activities under pseudo-titles in order to confuse the politicians and their own reactionaries. Would that more Western scientists were so brave!!

Ectoplasm

Ectoplasm issuing from the physical medium Minnie Harrison (Courtesy Tom Harrison)

A friend of mine asked me the following question which I think may be of general interest to the more scientifically minded amongst you. Lionel

Not having had any such experiences as you have been gifted to live, I ask for your leniency and patience to illustrate me about these questions. Accepting the traditional definition of Ectoplasm: ektos meaning, "outside," and plasma, something formed or molded. I am at a loss as to whether to place ectoplasm in the realm of matter at rest or in constant motion. Is it something with kinetic properties or just a snapshot of that presence?

I shall do my best to answer your questions.

The word Ectoplasm was coined by the French scientist Charles Richet but Harry Boddington in his book “The University of Spiritualism,” prefers the word ‘psychoplasm’ to describe the substance associated with physical mediumship in general and materialisation in particular. Psychoplasm was coined by one James Burns from psyche, soul and plasm: material out of which living tissues develop. Burns defined psychoplasm as follows:

“Nature around us is a condensation into palpable forms of previously aerial and inscrutable forms. Man, as an organised being, is composed of these things. He holds them in suspense in his nervous system. We are all materialised spirits. The solid food we eat is used to maintain the structure of the body, supply it with force and the mind with feeling, thought and expression. The fluid within man’s body is called ‘psychoplasm’ because it is so highly vitalised and the soul can mould it into organic form.”

The term therefore (Boddington again) means invisible elements which can be condensed and moulded and thus become visible and tangible by reason of the directive mind behind the manifestation. Aura is the term applied to this manifestation before it becomes visible but as spirit bodies also radiate it, I apply it to them when speaking of the radiation and psychoplasm to the material of which spirit bodies and materialisations are composed. It is susceptible to many subdivisions but these would confuse rather than help us to understand.

Materialised forms cannot be distinguished from living flesh and blood. To touch and sight they appear the same. They de-materialise so slowly that the apparently solid body is resolved into a nebulous mass before our eyes and finally disappears like cooling steam from a kettle. When forming garments the substance presents the soft feel of chiffon or the rough texture of coarser material. In Crawford’s experiments it exhibits the strength of a bone or steel bar. But no matter whether visible as psychoplasm or invisible as aura, one thing is certain: it is always a form of matter which manifests the attributes of the human body, including the conscious direction of its parts.

Despite Boddington’s urging, ‘ectoplasm’ is the word that has become more generally accepted and that is why I use it in my text. (This refers to my book "Please God Why?")

KARMA

Re-incarnation theory includes the conviction that there is a great Law of Karma. Put in more common, everyday Western language, this is the Law of Cause and Effect. Believers in re-incarnation claim that many of the causes from which we suffer the effects in earthly life occurred in previous lives on earth, including being born physically or economically disadvantaged. These are referred to as our karmic debt and they say it is necessary for us to continue returning to earth until we have cancelled all such debt by our actions in subsequent earthly lives. This all sounds very plausible and large numbers of people all over the world accept such a view without question.

I take issue with it because it runs counter to my experience and to views expressed to me by people from the spiritual world. I return to my earlier point that re-incarnation and also karma relegate the spiritual world to that of a glorified waiting room where it is not possible to progress spiritually. Why must it be necessary for one to return to earth in order to redeem ones mistakes? Those mistakes are part of each individual’s education. It is by making mistakes and learning from them to reduce the risk of making the same error again, that we learn and grow. Who has the right to say that one mistake is greater than another and thus becomes part of karmic debt? What I do accept readily is that every individual has defects of character and it is quite likely these have been created, or at least intensified by mistakes we have made and opportunities we have missed because they were not recognised. What I cannot accept is that such character defects as each of us has are there solely due to action or inaction on earth.

I explained earlier my belief that we choose a particular life on earth because we believe at the time we choose, that it offers us the best chance to strengthen our spiritual selves through the effects of certain experiences we are likely to undergo. Sometimes the choice is more altruistic than this and we choose to live a particular life on earth in order to help another or perhaps several. That there is a Law of Cause and Effect that can be called Karmic Law if you like is unquestioned; we see it in operation every day of our lives. I also do not question that some of the results we achieve when faced with certain challenges are determined by our own individual character and that has been moulded throughout our entire existence, not just from the moment we were born on earth. What I do question is the assumption that underlies the theories of re-incarnation and karma. This assumption is that character is shaped only by earthly experience and it is therefore necessary to keep on returning to earth in order to purify ourselves.

We are creatures of spirit. The spiritual world is our natural environment and although earth is part of that world, in my view it is only one of the various and numberless spheres (the many mansions of Jesus of Nazareth) that make it up. Why we should need to return again and again to any one of these spheres makes no sense to me. Our character, the active part of the real self if you will, is formed and reformed by our experiences in all spheres, including the earth. Karmic debt and re-incarnation are too easily used to excuse the inadequacy of our responses to life’s challenges at certain times. I much prefer, whilst accepting the reality of Cause and Effect, to focus on the law of Personal Responsibility.

© Lionel Owen

This is an extract from my book “Please God Why?” which can be bought from my website www.spiritteasch.net

TODAY

Look to this Day!
For it is life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the verities
And realities of your existence:
The Bliss of Growth;
The Glory of Action;
The Splendour of Beauty.

For yesterday is already a dream,
And tomorrow only a vision;
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness, and every tomorrow
A vision of hope
Look well, therefore, to this day!

Sanscrit

Ode to a Surrey Wood

To a Surrey Wood













I love your green and shaded beauty,
When spring has decked each bough.
Here I find great peace when duty,
Care or worry, leave a furrowed brow.

Strolling soft, brown paths,
Where chestnut sentinels stand guard,
I listen to the chiff-chaffs
And spy bluebells in the sward.

Pheasants croak, magpies squawk,
Spider’s gossamer strokes my face.
The air's so still, I hear you talk
In tongues of time and space.

Summer comes with lazy heat;
How cool and fragrant are your shades.
Your paths, firm now beneath my feet,
Lead through sun-dappled glades.

As dog rose sweet succeeds the May,
Foxgloves dance in fern on banks.
Zephyrs are heady with scent of hay
And I recline in you with thanks.

Harvest time and now it seems,
Your gown’s dressed for a ball,
Red and gold; as sunbeams
Dance with leaves that fall.

The golden shower your branches shed
Lies crisp beneath my boots.
Forsaken shells, their “conkers” fled,
Lie lonely round the roots.

The wind is chill, your bare arms part,
Beneath November’s leaden sky.
Still there’s peace within your heart.
Filled with awe, I wonder why.

O’ernight your dress is changed again;
Snow adorns you like a bride.
No trace of paths or banks remain;
All drowned by winter’s virgin tide.

Full circle now as spring returns,
To deck your boughs with green.
My heart and spirit with the ferns,
Unfurl within your verdant screen.

© Lionel Owen

More Inspired Verse

The Waterfall





Bubbling along, tumbled tree trunk toying,
The happy stream plays hide and seek
With shade and sun, enjoying
The memories of stones that speak
Of mountain side and hill and plain,
Whence they were washed by winter rain.

Deep, silent trout-tickling pool,
Is where in depths begins the birth,
(Chattering stream, now calm and cool).
From solid rock of fertile earth.
Hastening on, the waters pour,
Foam-flecked, towards the distant roar.

Tumbling, teetering; should they lunge?
They seem to halt before the abyss,
Gathering strength, they headlong plunge,
Majestic torrent of power that’s bliss.
My eyes are wide, my ears seem helmed,
All sound by roaring overwhelmed.

Thunder; mist rising - sodden smoke,
Below whirls a centrifugal scour
Pulling all within its yoke,
Powdering granite with its power.
The towering torrent, slowing now
Gently resumes its placid flow.

Through green, daisy-painted field,
Brushing bovine lips drinking their fill.
In this gentle flow, what lies concealed?
The miller knows: The power to drive his mill.
With us the same - Passions to the void may hurl,
Peace and strength hide beyond that whirl.

© Lionel Owen 2009

Inspired Verse

Here is a poem I wrote as an exercise in a literature class. I was given the title only. Enjoy. Lionel

Why Me In the Grey Dawn Dangling?

No moon this night and stars but briefly
Glimpsed in cloudless, darkened gaps.
Across the moors, haunting scream of vixen
As she meets her mate, together to stalk
The hills for partridge, rabbit, hare.

Like a Geisha’s face the eastern sky, as
Anaemic sun, vacating summer skies,
Illumines northern chill, like absent moon
Peeking o’er the rim, cold and ghostly. Nocturnal
Beasts detect the change and hurry home.

“Alone and palely loitering,” he stands
Shivering on the cheerless heath.
Maybe La Belle Dame wanders here,
In some waking dream has him ensnared.
Or has the pale, grey dawn unhinged his mind?

Scarce tinged with pink or gold,
The eastern sky grows lighter still.
His mood reflects this sombre scene, and yet
His heart suspended hangs, as though
Outside his frame it waits – anticipating.

The stillness hangs around him like a shroud,
Deafening in its timeless quiet – that pause while
Daylit nature gathers her collective voice.
Lark, curlew, raven, hawk and lamb, not quite
Awake to welcome e’en this cheerless morn.

Eye transfixed, heartbeat racing,
Beneath his feet the ling’s transformed.
Wonder grows as skeletal limbs
Suffuséd are with brilliant lights
And glow of purest gold.

All around the light shines bright,
Not light from any earthly sun, but
Light celestial, light that speaks.
He shines and joins; where light
And sound and colour meet.

His trancéd eyes traverse the scene,
The moor ablaze, but from within.
He knows – No doubts - No hesitation.
This inner light is life, and in its glow
All things unite: All knowledge is revealed.

The light speaks but transcends all words,
He understands all things but knows not why,
In all its glorious, simple symmetry,
This time-suspended moment, beyond reason,
Beyond vocabulary, embraces all that is.

A moment? No more and yet it seemed
Eternity. Eternity in which to know eternity.
Stirring now he sees a dawn, beautiful
With knowledge lately gained,
All is one and one is all.

All is light and all perfection,
The meanest thing is not mundane.
Time and space and love united.
Humbly he asks in thankful joy,
“Why me in the grey dawn dangling?

© Lionel Owen 1996 (Revised 2007)

More Poetry from Lionel

WISDOM


When foolish and young,
I’d use my tongue,
Forgetting the voice within.
To avoid the tears,
I’d close my ears,
But forget to listen within.
To smell the rose,
I’d use my nose,
Knowing nought of scents within.
If I can’t perceive it,
I just won’t believe it,
To Hell with what’s within.
But if I were wise,
I’d close my eyes,
Knowing that God is within.

© Lionel Owen

A Light Hearted Look at our Consumer Society

Here is a nonsense poem I wrote a while back.

Enjoy!

Lionel

Arch-Deity of the Consumer Society
(A tongue-in-cheek look at the motorist)


God of freedom, independence and of status,
In whose generous heart lies no hiatus.
Grant to me, thy faithful and obedient acolyte,
Six cylinders, twin exhausts, wide wheels and leather white.

Thus endowed, I will roar off and preach thy word,
Amongst pedestrian, pedal-cyclist and nerd.
None shall ‘scape my ardent words or flirt with indecision,
For I shall use your demi-God, the Lord of television.

Freedom to go just where you please, no times to watch,
No ‘bus queues, stops, fare stages, cabs or trains to catch.
No need to mix with “hoi polloi” or fraternise with ‘muters,
Your car’s the key that sets you free so blow them; sound two hooters!

The road is clear, the top is down, the wind streams through your hair.
You’re drunk with joy. This is the life! You feel as free as air.
“Live for today, tomorrow we die.” There’s a sensible expression,
Look after number one I say and let others get depression.

Oh yes, they’ll say you’re selfish and your fumes will kill the planet,
Carbon monoxide makes ozone holes that dry the river Thanet.
Ignore them, they’re just jealous, when all is said and done,
Tell them the earth will still be here long after they are gone.

Why worry about tomorrow? Look down the years and see
How things have changed, been re-arranged, improved for you and me.
If you still went by horse and cart, or even coach and four man,
Would the world itself be a better place or the planet give a damn?

We’ve past the twentieth century and now it’s twenty-one,
It’s the time of the individual, so have yourself some fun.
God helps those who help themselves, is what I understand,
So help yourself, be fancy free, take your future by the hand.

Soon you’ll be too old to drive, too old to see as well,
So don’t delay, get out today, put your foot down, go like hell.
Come to the altar and worship the god, the one who sets you free,
Let the “greens” stew, or join the queue, they’ll not stop you and me.

© Lionel Owen 2005

Thing Are Not Always What They Seem

I like this story and I hope you will too.
Lionel
Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied,

“Things aren't always what they seem.”

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could she have let this happen? "The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die."

“Things aren't always what they seem,” the older angel replied.

“When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it.”

“Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem.”

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until sometime later...

On Death and Love - Red Cloud

In the 1930's a little lady named Estelle Roberts used to hold thousands of people spellbound in The Royal Albert Hall in London. Why? Because she was the trance medium through whom the spirit of Red Cloud spoke. Once under the control of Red Cloud, this tiny lady filled the vast spaces of the Albert Hall with the deep, masculine voice of this wonderful native American Guide. Here are some of his thoughts on death and love:

Death is not such a bad thing after all. Is it not a blessing in disguise to some? When you look around at humanity suffering in its ignorance, would you not rather think that those you love had passed from a body of suffering into a world of fullness? Or is your love too selfish? With true love it is greater to give than to receive; it is greater to love than to be loved; and it is greater to give a cup of cold water to one who is suffering. That is to know the glory of God.

If you love with an unselfish love, then you have set out to learn the way past death. From whence I come it is not a place of airy clouds. It is not a place of vapour. It is solid, practical and full of common-sense people. If you would only stop for a little while to think of the great plan of the universe, the great plan of the earth, with its beauty and sunsets, and flood of blossom and then realise what Jesus meant when he said, "Eye has not seen nor vision beheld the glories that God has prepared for man."

Do you think the Law that brings you from childhood to full manhood would drop you from a state of manhood to nothing? Is it logical? Of course not. Man does not die. He is indestructible.

Now some of Red Clouds thoughts on the natural world:

"Gaze upon the face of a flower and note its beauty. Inhale the perfume which rises gently to your nostrils. In that moment of silent admiration you reach God's garden and your spiritual home. For home with God can only be in beauty, whatever way you seek it. Perhaps you will find it on a summer's evening as you gaze across the sky, the sun setting in its beauteous colourings and the gentle moon rising. Your heart and soul with wonderment are filled with the beauty of God's kingdom and its blessing. Thus you find inspiration, for you are awakening and sensing God."

Taken from "Red Cloud Speaks." With grateful thanks to Tudor Press (London)

What is Love?

Here is a poem I found in a little book called "Reasons Why." I think it is lovely. It was written by M.L. Bromfield. Enjoy, Lionel


At child stood at its mother's knee,
And in a voice so clear
He said, "Mother, what is love?
I do so want to hear,
We are told to love each other,
But I just don't understand,
I cannot see or hear it
Nor catch it in my hand."

The mother looked kindly on her child,
Whom she held very dear,
And told him very gently
The thing he wished to hear.
"Love isn't very hard to find,
It's around us every day.
It's in every single deed we do
At work, at home or play."

"For when you visit Grandma,
She greets you with a kiss
And gives you cakes and chocolate,
Which to you is bliss.
But she is trying to show you
How very much she cares,
And that's what love is all about,
An open heart that shares."

"It's in giving and receiving,
In thought and word and deed,
It's the helping hand to others
Whenever they're in need.
And when you meet a lonely soul
Who has lost someone so dear,
Give them a little of your time
And lend a kindly ear."

"And so my son, as you grow up,
And walk on life's highway,
I trust you'll keep the memory
Of what I've said today,
And you will truly be a man
Of whom God will be proud,
And I will too, because you see
You'll stand out in a crowd."

M.L. Bromfield

The Shadow & The Reality

The following is a brief extract from an introduction by the Rev. George Daisley to a book called "More Alive Than Ever," the story of her daughter Karen who passed to spirit from cancer in her twenties by Jeanne Walker. George Daisley was invited to write the introduction because it was through his mediumship that Karen first communicated. It is an excellent exposition of the Spiritualist truth that earth is the shadow and the spirit world is the substance. For those living in the USA, you may be lucky enough to get the opportunity to watch the TV Documentary "Always Karen" which is repeated from time to time and is based on the first book about Karen's conversations from the world of the spirit.

"Prevalent ideas picture death as an end in itself and the severance forever from those we love. This is a very poor conception indeed of Creation and, so far as Christian thought and teaching are concerned, it shows an utter failure to evaluate Christ's answer to the penitent thief, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

Rebirth into a world of spirit is clearly shown as the birthright of every living soul and it is in no way conditional upon religious beliefs or personalities.

Both saint and sinner went to the same place in spirit from the "cross." What Christ referred to as paradise, is better known to students of metaphysics as "The Astral" and it is important that I write something about it. It is that area of life eternal in which, sooner or later, we shall all find ourselves. It interpenetrates the earth with all the atomic vibrations that go in to making up our physical planet; it is a duplicate of the earth - but without the environmental desecration. What I am saying is that all the continents of the earth, its rivers, mountains, places and every form of nature we know is reflected in the astral. While this may seem incredible, it is only further proof that truth is stranger than fiction and is a much more logical interpretation of creation and death than is currently thought.

The basic difference between earth and the spirit world is vibrational. We cannot see into the afterlife with physical vision because its rate of vibrations is too high but the world of spirit can discern all that goes on here; so those interested in a particular area of earth - home and loved ones for instance - can keep themselves informed. They are aided further because we of earth exist in "duplicate," a fact of which most are ignorant despite the fact that St. Paul said to the Corinthians that we have not only our physical frame but also a spirit body that carries its own illumination, known as the aura. "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." (1 Corinthians 15:44)

Because our thoughts are, to the world of the spirit as objective as is speech to us on earth, Karen (the subject of the book) was also able to listen in to what her parents were thinking. The careful reader will observe time and again that the author found her daughter giving the answer that complemented questing thoughts. It is most essential that I make clear at once the fact that although Karen knew what her parents were thinking, her thoughts were on a closed circuit, so to speak. Thus privacy was maintained.

Karen says that all on the other side of life are young. This is true; age is restricted to the physical body, which is burned or otherwise obliterated when it ceases to house the living spirit. This withdraws in its spirit body to the world of spirit where it manifests as a mature being if it has had a long enough earth life. If it was a young life, it grows over the years to maturity and schooling forms part of the growing process."

Where There’s a Will …

Spirit will invariably find a way to communicate where the need is urgent – even if no medium is present. The following is a true story that happened to a Methodist Minister some years ago:

The minister was sitting alone in his study one night when he heard the doorbell ring. Going to the door he found standing there a young woman whom he knew fairly well. She was from a village some five miles away. The village was in an adjoining Methodist Circuit from which the minister had moved some sixteen months before.

“Good evening,” she cried, “I expect you have forgotten me but I have come on a very urgent errand. My father is dying. He never attended church much, but once or twice when you were in the Circuit we persuaded him to hear you preach. I do wish you would come and pray with him before he passes away”.

“I will come at once,” replied the minister. Putting on his hat and coat and taking an umbrella from the stand, he set off in the pouring rain on a five mile walk accompanied by the young woman.

On his arrival at the house, the wife welcomed him warmly. “Oh, how good of you to come,” she said, “But how did you know my husband was passing away?”

“Your daughter came for me,” he replied, with some surprise at the question. It was the woman’s turn to be surprised now.

“Come upstairs at once,” she said, “And we will talk afterwards.”

The minister went to the bedside of the dying man, spoke to him and prayed with him. Shortly afterwards, the end came. Turning to the woman who was now a widow, he asked where the daughter was, for he had not seen her again since they entered the house. The woman replied,

“I was surprised when you came to the door this evening and I asked you who told you that my husband was dying. You said that my daughter called and that you had come out together. You have not heard then that my daughter died a year ago?”
Now the minister was astonished indeed. “Dead!” he exclaimed, “She came to my door, rang the bell and walked out here with me.”

“Love conquers all!”

The Bliss of Solitude

“For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon the inner eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”


In this way, William Wordsworth concluded what is probably his best known poem. Recalling those lines sets me to thinking about solitude and its attractions, particularly to artistic people and religious thinkers.

What can possibly be blissful about being alone? Many people today seem to fear being alone almost more than anything else. Is this not reflected by the almost constant need many young people find for loud music, by the abhorrence shown by couples at the prospect of one of them being left alone on the death or disappearance of the other, or the fear demonstrated by so many at the prospect of a “lonely old age”?

All such fears are understandable for Man is a gregarious creature and being deprived of social contact for lengthy periods can have unfortunate psychological and physical effects on most people. It is not by chance that ‘solitary confinement’ is one of the most feared punishments in prison. Why should it be that solitude, feared by so many, is at the same time prized as a pearl of great price by the great artists, thinkers and philosophers of the world? Could it be that solitude and loneliness are not synonymous? Is being alone different from being lonely?

Have you never taken a walk in the country on a fresh, spring day and felt the inexplicable joy that steals over you and eventually fills you with such ecstasy that you feel you want to shout out loud and tell all the world how wonderful you feel? Is this feeling not more intense when you are alone? This is the bliss of solitude. Have you never sat quietly at home and allowed your mind to wander hither and thither and suddenly found yourself reliving the joy and happiness of an event in your childhood? This is the bliss of solitude. We can each recall instances similar to those I am sure and so accept that bliss can be discovered in solitude but why should this be so?

As well as being a social creature, Man is also a spirit. It is essential for our health and well-being that our physical and spiritual natures are in harmony with one another. To achieve this, time and effort have to be devoted to feeding and exercising both. Essential elements in satisfying our physical nature are the love and companionship of other human beings. Indeed these are also helpful to our spiritual side also. By its very nature however, the spirit needs to turn away from more physical, earthly things from time to time in order to seek sustenance: to recharge its batteries, you might say. This is not to suggest that un-worldliness is a desirable aim. On the contrary, as spiritual beings each of us chooses to dwell on earth just because meeting and overcoming the trials and temptations of this life provide unique opportunities to refine our spiritual nature. Nevertheless, periodically we are well advised to expose our spirit selves to a more rarefied atmosphere. To do this, we need to be alone – not lonely. Indeed loneliness, which is a state of mind we impose upon ourselves, is a barrier to true solitude.

The power of the spirit is within everything we see around us and the spirits of our departed loved ones both human and animal are only a whisper away. In solitude, the spirit within each one of us is enabled to reach out, to touch and to respond to this power which is the very essence of life. So complex is our makeup that the intensity of our response is bound to vary but when that real “we,” deep within us, truly touches the great source of all life – the light of the world – then do we experience in full, the bliss of solitude.

Our World of Illusions

The following is a quotation from "Song and its Fountains" by the great Irish mystic George William Russell or "AE".

"I can only speak where I have been faithful. I have never ceased from the inward search and might by that faithfulness have gone far if I had not had a rabble of desires tugging me by the skirts to travel alluring roads in the world of illusion."

And another from "The Candle of Vision":

"We are indeed most miserable when we dream we have no power over circumstance, and I account it the highest wisdom to know this of the living universe, that there is no destiny in it other than that we make ourselves."

Fear

Know well, my soul,
God's hand controls
Whatever you may fear,

Trust that hand, remembering...:

"Walk in the light,
And you shall own,
That fellowship of love,
His spirit only can confer,
Who dwells in light above."


May your weekend be filled with light, joy and happiness.

Lionel

Four Definitions of Spiritualism as a Religion

Emma Hardinge-Britten, probably the finest early advocate for Spiritualism, set down the following definitions in the 1870's and I feel they are as applicable today as they were then. I would only add that these days it is widely accepted by Spiritualists that the judgement in definition three, is carried out by ourselves after arrival in the spirit world and not by a third party.


1) Spiritualism proves by a set of obviously supernatural phenomena, that a world of invisible intelligence is communicating with us.

2) It demonstrates by an immense array of proven facts given all over the world, under circumstances that preclude the possibility of collusion or human contrivance, that the communicating intelligences are identical with the souls of mortals who once lived on earth.


3) It shows by universal agreement in the communications, that every living soul will be judged for the deeds done in the body and reaps the fruit of its good or evil life on earth, in happiness or suffering hereafter.

4) All the communicating spirits agree in declaring that the life succeeding mortal death is not a final state but one which manifests innumerable conditions of progress; and these four propositions I emphatically protest are ALL the spiritual facts we know to be absolutely proved, or upon which all the immense varieties of persons that make up the ranks of Spiritualism, can absolutely agree.

The Rose

Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God’s free light,
Watered and fed by morning dew,
Shedding its sweetness, day and night.

As it grew and blossomed, fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier heights,
It came to a crevice in the wall,
Through which there shone a beam of light.

Onward it crept with added strength,
With never a thought of fear or pride,
It followed the light through the crevice’s length
And unfolded itself on the other side.

The light, the dew, the broadening view,
Were found the same as they were before
And it lost itself in beauties new,
Breathing its fragrance more and more.

Shall claim of death cause us to grieve,
And make our courage faint or fall?
Nay, let us faith and hope receive,
The rose still grows beyond the wall.

Scattering fragrance far and wide,
Just as it did in the days of yore.
Just as it did on the other side,
Just as it will for evermore.

Love the Earth

Imagine the earth as seen from deep space in those marvellous pictures transmitted back to us from the Apollo missions. That wonderful blue globe so beautifully suspended in space.

Feel the yearning for home that the astronauts felt when they beheld the beauty of this vision. In recognition of the vision, relate to the earth. Pursue the logic which follows from this and earth is no longer "IT" or "HER" but "YOU".

Use the word "YOU" as an affirmation of the continuing relationship between yourself and everything you touch. The cat is "YOU"; the dog is "YOU"; your pots and pans are "YOU"; the plants are "YOU" and the rocks and soil are "YOU". The very universe becomes a second person universe, a cosmos of relationship.

And so you take a step nearer reality... From relationship, love grows - pure, unconditional love. Such a love has a curious property that, of all the opposites in our world of opposites, it alone can transcend the other pole of the argument. For love is not just a warm, cosy, sentimental feeling. It is total will-to-union. Consequently, it is not oppposed to hatred. It is not opposed to anything. Just as you do not need to shovel out all the darness from a room before you fill it with light, so love simply dissolves hatred. Its very nature swallows it up. It is the opposite only of the illusory world of perceived opposites.

And so unconditional love of your planet and of your co-habitors of it can help restore to you the total inter-relatedness which is the very gateway to universal
reality. Thanks to its vision of wholeness, will-to-union eventually becomes union itself. The second person universe turns into a first person reality.

Foregoing self, the universe grows "I". In other words, lose self and we discover our true selves in everything around us.

This is an excerpt from "Beyond All Belief" by Peter de Lemesurier

The Sacred White Buffalo

I am sure many of you will have read about these sacred animals at sometime. You probably even heard about the birth of a white buffalo calf some years ago. I know I did, so when recently my friends Janet and Tommy from Phoenix, Arizona offered to take me to Flagstaff to see the white buffalo, I jumped at the chance.

I was captivated by these beautiful animals, although at the same time I was sad to see them in pens, rather than roaming the range as they were born to do. Their owners, Jim and Dena Riley are planning to move away from Flagstaff before long so that they can provide just such an open range for their charges. Keeping buffalo in pens can be an expensive business, for all their food (and they eat a lot) has to be purchased. If their plans materialise, this expense will be vastly reduced because the animals will be able to graze.

Here is part of Jim and Dena’s story about the white buffalo, in their own words:

“In the spring of 1987, a female white buffalo was born on the edge of the Black Hills of Wyoming. At the time of her birth, a young bull in the pasture tried to kill the newborn calf by flipping her fifteen feet into the air. The rancher, Jim Riley was there and witnessed the event. Risking his own life, he rushed to save the newborn as she was being flipped for the second time. It was a miracle the little girl was not killed. The ranchers, Jim and Dena Riley named the little miracle “Miracle Moon”.

A white buffalo is extremely rare. So rare in fact, that out of less than ten white buffalo tested genetically by a DNA test, only “Miracle Moon” tested 100% North American Bison. Miracle Moon has been tested not only once, bit three times for purity! Most white buffalo occur due to interbreeding with cattle. The result is called a beefalo/cattleo. Miracle Moon is not an albino she has large dark eyes, with blond eyelashes and she was born on a Native American spiritual leader’s birthday!

All the white females have been tested for purity.

Since her birth, Miracle Moon has lived up to her name. On June 8th 2000, she gave birth to her first born, “Rainbow Spirit”. Surprisingly, Rainbow Spirit also turned white, a little whiter than her mother, with a white stripe down her back. Miracle Moon’s second daughter, “Mandela Peace Pilgrim,” born July 18th 2001 was just like her mom and sister. Miracle Moon’s third calf, her first male born July 1st 2002, we named “Arizona Spirit”. He was born just like his big sister Rainbow Spirit, with a white stripe down his back. These were all fathered by a dark buffalo, our herd sire, “Willy Wonka”.

The white buffalo are known to be healers. Many have come and shared their healing stories with us. These stories were very moving indeed. It was also predicted that a white female buffalo would be born to a white couple near the centre of North America, which is where Miracle Moon and Rainbow Spirit were born. The address was Belle Fourche, SD. Known as ‘The centre of the Nation’.

According to Native prophecy, the white buffalo is a symbol to all people to join together in peace, balance and harmony. The legend says that the white buffalo would return during a period of chaos and disaster. The female white buffalo was to be a sign to Native Americans to seek peace, balance and harmony in their New World. It is for this reason we feel Miracle Moon’s birth is important to all people, regardless of race, culture or religion. Now at the beginning of this new millennium we should individually seek a balance of tolerance and peaceful solace in the message of the Great White Buffalo.”

The Native American prophecy concerning the white buffalo tells the story how nineteen generations ago, during a time of famine a beautiful maiden appeared to two Lakota Indian braves. She asked them to take her to their camp to speak to their chief. She presented the chief with a bundle containing a peace pipe and explained its purpose. She described it as the way Indians should pray, for in the smoke their prayers would ascend. The red earthen bowl represented “Mother and Grandmother Earth,” which is sacred; the buffalo carving on the bowl symbolised the “four leggeds” on earth and the wooden stem the plants. The feathers attached to the pipe symbolised “the wingeds” of the earth. She said, “All these are joined to you who smoke the pipe. When you pray with this pipe you pray for everything.”

She left a prophecy that said at the end of time there would be five years of increasing disasters and crises which would be followed by an era of peace. She said she would return one day to mark the beginning of the five years of trouble and to bring healing to the earth. Leaving the pipe with the tribe, she was transformed into a white buffalo as she walked away. The ecumenical Peace Pipe she brought has been handed down for nineteen generations and is perhaps the most sacred object of the American Indians. It is from this legend all Indians derive their understanding of the Peace Pipe.

Miracle Moon was born on the birthday of Arvol Looking Horse, who is the keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman’s Pipe! Her daughter Rainbow Spirit was born on the death day of Arvol’s father, Stanley Looking Horse. Arvol said his father predicted her birth!

Humanity and Religion – Time to use the Spiritual Option?

Of what are we afraid, that we continue to persecute those who demonstrate through their spiritual gifts, that the human personality survives death? Surely such persecution ceased with the end of the Inquisition and the repealing of the Witchcraft Acts in Britain in 1951? Although the persecution is a little more subtle today, it is still there and as unthinking and uncaring as ever. Indeed the use by the government of EEC Directives to repeal the Fraudulent Mediums Act is yet another example of exactly this.

Intolerance loves to quote scripture in defence of its prejudice but no thinking person can accept the claim of priests, of any and all denominations, that their particular scriptures are ‘the word of God’. Doubtless much scripture has been spiritually inspired but that inspiration has from time to time been edited to suit the prejudices of particular individuals. For instance, the much quoted Old Testament injunction, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” was almost certainly inserted in the Authorised or King James Version of the Bible because the authors knew the king went in fear of witches. It does not appear in earlier editions.

Religion has brought and continues to bring, much comfort and solace to many and I would be the last to deny this. It has also inspired great works of art and produced some truly humble and spiritual individuals. However, no religion so far has escaped the all too human trap of becoming dogmatic and intolerant when achieving temporal power, be it minor or major. I mentioned earlier in the book the edict that man was specially created by God in His own image and the physical, instead of the spiritual interpretation of this has been used by theologians to excuse much cruelty and worse. Scientists, from Medical Doctors to Physicists and from Astronomers to Naturalists would not be held in the awe and almost god-like reverence they are today were it not that religion had prepared the way. Such reverence clouds the judgement and leads, all too easily, to unquestioning acceptance of scientific pronouncements. The narrow interpretations placed upon scientific discoveries and the irrational outbursts when lay people dare to question the assumptions of scientists, can without doubt be laid at the door of ecclesiastical arrogance and prejudice. The arrogance that pronounced the Pope as infallible, for instance

In my view religion has a vital role to play but the need to replace temporal with spiritual power is now paramount.

Not only should religion focus on building spiritual power but it should teach everyone how to do so. To keep such knowledge hidden is self-defeating. Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated that spiritual power is all conquering and said to his disciples with reference to his 'miracles', “greater things than these shall you do.” However, achieving such heights of spiritual power requires enormous effort, dedication and hard work. This Jesus gave unstintingly in preparing for his ministry.

The power of the spirit is an inner power and only by single-minded concentration on our inner selves can it be fully utilised. It does not mean cutting ourselves off from ordinary life, although spending time alone is vital during the development stages. It also requires that we deny primacy to the ego and eschew the drive for temporal power. In order to find ourselves we must first lose 'ourselves'. The physical self or ego, dominated as it is by mother nature, must be subordinated to the higher self or spirit and the challenge of achieving this is perhaps the most difficult we can set ourselves.

Because the Nazarene taught people to “turn the other cheek,” many regard his way as weakness; the soft option. On the contrary, he was the strongest of men. The courage and strength needed to develop and exercise true spiritual power, such as his, is huge. One look at what has happened in our world by following the strong option, the dictum of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” shows it is high time to use the alternative. Even a child can see that violence creates more violence: Hatred breeds greater hatred. The problems persist and no wonder; the ‘strong’ way is the negative way.

We need to become positive. Negation operates in darkness and produces greater darkness. Spiritual power and the love which is its source, is positive and produces light. Just as switching on the light in a dark room dissolves the darkness, without having to physically eject it first, so switching on the light of spiritual power in our darkened world will dissolve the darkness of violence, hatred and misery. We won’t have to fight to physically remove the darkness, it will dissolve. The darkness of hatred, violence and selfishness cannot exist in the bright light of unselfish spiritual power. The fight, for make no mistake there will be one, will take place within each one of us as we develop the power of the higher self. We will have to fight to overcome our physical nature, our ego. If you ever wondered what purpose is served by placing human beings on earth, surely there can be no nobler one than this.

We need to trust in the power of the spirit. Once we have the courage to grasp the torch, we will not be alone. There are legions in the spiritual world that will spare no effort to help us. Remember, they will be able to draw close much easier once we become more aware of our higher selves. Also, when this day dawns there will be no need for mediums to enable communication between earth and the spiritual word – each person will become his own medium!

This is an extract from my book "Please God Why?"

Charles Darwin

The two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Darwin is being celebrated this year, so it seems an appropriate time to look at his defining work “Origin of Species” from the point of view of a Spiritualist.

There were Naturalists before Charles Darwin of course but there is no doubt that the publication of his book “The Origin of Species” led to them being considered as serious scientists for the first time. It also shocked the world and brought about other profound changes. Indeed some would argue the gradual change it brought in human understanding was one of the most profound. This affected not just the way naturalists thought and were regarded but also how ordinary people viewed religion and the nature and history of humanity itself. Its effect on the rise of materialism as a viable alternative to religion is undoubted. Without it Engels and Marx would have had fewer disciples and perhaps the advent of Dialectic Materialism and Communism would have been much delayed or not been invented at all.

Charles Darwin was advancing a theory but backed by the fossil and other evidence from his researches on the Galapagos Islands and elsewhere, it was very convincing. The Christian church at the time of publication was the most influential and feared power in the Western world, maybe even in the entire world. For this reason Darwin refused to publish for many years, preferring post mortem publication. He knew the awesome influence the church wielded over the careers of scientists. He only published when forced to do so by the threat of pre-emption from a colleague. When “Origin” appeared the church stood aghast and refused to accept Darwin’s interpretation of his investigations and to a degree still does so to this day. Evolution and ‘the survival of the fittest’ ran contrary to the church doctrine that God had created man specially and what’s more, “in His own image”. One can imagine the ribald cartoons at the time depicting the image of God now it was known our closest relatives were chimpanzees!

When I look back and think about the furore created by Darwin, I think how unnecessary it all was. Had the church, driven I suppose by the desire to extend its power and influence, not been so arrogant as to pronounce dogmatically on matters temporal, all this could have been avoided. If only it had always stuck to its spiritual last …! However, this is to ignore human nature. Darwin’s theory of evolution describes the origin and growth of animals and man as physical beings. Because of the unwise utterances of the church and its insistence that it was infallible, his most extreme followers were able to infer that Darwin had proved man to be nothing but a physical being, the latest and to date the most effective adaptation of animal life. In other words he had destroyed God and debunked all things spiritual.

One object in writing this is to persuade you such an interpretation is nonsense and to explain why I believe that. We, as modern human beings, have a great compulsion to compartmentalise our studies, unlike earlier ages where holistic study was considered de rigueur. Although the advent of specialisation has enabled us to learn ‘more and more about less and less’, I sometimes wonder if the price has not been too high. There is no doubt the greater material prosperity of the developed world, as it is called, owes much to this specialisation but the price has been to make many people more selfish and less caring about one another, about life that shares this planet with us and about the environment. The development of material prosperity necessitated people moving from small towns and villages, where ‘everyone knew everyone else’, into large cities where anonymity is the rule rather than the exception. From working in small groups or at home, people now worked in factories and large offices. The trauma caused by these aspects of the industrial revolution has had two major impacts. First it has separated human beings from everyday contact with the natural world and its rhythms and secondly it has separated us from our innate understanding of the essential unity of creation. I believe it has also made many people more dependent on the state and/ or the company and less willing to think for themselves.

Human beings have always felt there is more to life than just the short span spent on this earth. We have always created religions of one sort or another. No race of people in any part of the world has ever been found, who did not as a general religious principle, accept that life continues beyond physical death. Who are we to scoff at the earliest attempts to interpret life in terms of Gods of various forms and accuse such people of ignorance and superstition? Most people, especially in the Western world have accepted the claims of the scientists, physicists in particular, without question. They have been persuaded to view everything in physical terms. If you can’t see, touch, taste, hear or smell something, it doesn’t exist. To be fair one has to add, or measure it with scientific instruments. The problem with this is how can we claim our five physical senses or scientific instruments are adequate in all circumstances? We know our senses are imperfect. There is an enormous range of sound our ears are not designed to hear and the visible spectrum is only a small fraction of the entire spectrum of light and colour. Our senses of touch, smell and taste are just as deficient and scientific instruments must be of limited application because they are designed and built by these same imperfect, deficient human beings. What ingenuousness to accept without question the materialistic claims of scientists and yet in the same breath describe as superstition, the belief there is more to life than material existence!

Lionel

This is an extract from my book "Please God Why?" which can be obtained by visiting www.spiritteach.net